Jessie Blackbourn is a research fellow at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies at the University of Oxford, UK. Deniz Kayis is currently the Associate for Chief Justice Allsop AO of the Federal Court of Australia. Nicola McGarrity is a senior lecturer and the Director of the Terrorism Law Reform Project at the University of New South Wales, Australia.

How have UK counter-terrorism laws and policies adapted to the phenomenon of 'foreign terrorist fighters'? For these purposes, the focus will be upon persons linked to conflict or terrorism in Iraq and Syria associated with the rise and establishment of Islamic State (Daesh). This broad agenda covers: the meanings of 'foreign terrorist fighters' and the formulation of policy against them; criminal justice, policing and prosecution aspects of response; and non-criminal justice aspects of response, including travel and citizenship measures and the Prevent policy.

This book offers various perspectives, with an international legal focus, on an important and underexplored topic, which has recently gained momentum: the issue of foreign fighters. It provides an overview of challenges, pays considerable attention to the status of foreign fighters, and addresses numerous approaches, both at the supranational and national level, on how to tackle this problem. Outstanding experts in the field – lawyers, historians and political scientists – contributed to the present volume, providing the reader with a multitude of views concerning this multifaceted phenomenon. Particular attention is paid to its implications in light of the armed conflicts currently taking place in Syria and Iraq. Andrea de Guttry is a Full Professor of International Law at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy. Francesca Capone is a Research Fellow in Public International Law at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna. Christophe Paulussen is a Senior Researcher at the T.M.C. Asser Instituut in The Hague, the Netherlands, and a Research Fellow at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hague.

This newly revised and updated second edition provides a comprehensive overview of international counter-terrorism law and practice. Brand new and revised chapters provide critical commentary on the law from leading scholars and practitioners in the field, including new topics for this edition such as foreign terrorist fighters, the nexus between organized crime and terrorism, and the prevention of violent extremism.

This book, a follow-up publication to the 2016 volume Foreign Fighters under International Law and Beyond, zooms in on the responses that the international community and individual States are implementing in response to (prospective and actual) returning foreign fighters (FFs) and their families, focusing on returnees from Syria and Iraq to European countries. As States and international organisations are still ‘learning by doing’, the role of the academic community is to help steer the process by bridging the divide between international standards and their implementation at the national level and between security concerns and human rights law. Furthermore, the academic community can and should assist in identifying ways forward that are both effective, sustainable and international law-compliant. Those are, ultimately, the goals that the present volume seeks to pursue. The observations, recommendations and warnings included in this book will be useful in future debates on (returning) FFs, both in the academic world and in the world of policy makers and practitioners, as well as to the public at large. Francesca Capone is Associate Professor of International Law at the Istituto DIRPOLIS of the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa, Italy. Christophe Paulussen is Senior Researcher International Law at the T.M.C. Asser Instituut in The Hague, The Netherlands. Rebecca Mignot-Mahdavi is Lecturer in International Law at the Manchester International Law Centre, University of Manchester, School of Law in Manchester, United Kingdom.

Children’s Rights, ‘Foreign Fighters’, Counter-Terrorism emphasises the vulnerability of children in situations of war, conflict and radicalisation. Exploring issues of nationality rights and statelessness, chapters examine counter-terrorism measures such as the cancellation of citizenship as a strategy of pre-emption of violence while dissecting relevant cases across Asia, Australia, Europe and North America.

Government responses to terrorism can conflict with the protection of human rights and the rule of law. By comprehensively looking at all aspects of counter-terrorism measures from a comparative perspective, this book identifies best practices and makes clear recommendations for the future.