From Daesh to ‘Diaspora’: Tracing the Women and Minors of Islamic State
Author(s):
41,490 international citizens from 80 countries became affiliated with IS in Iraq and Syria.
• In the first global dataset of its scope and detail, up to 4,761 (13%) of these were recorded to be women, and 4,640 (12%) of these minors.
• Eastern Asia saw the highest proportion of recorded IS-affiliated women and minors at up to 70%, followed by Eastern Europe (44%); Western Europe (42%); the Americas, Australia and New Zealand (36%); Central Asia (30%); South-Eastern Asia (35%); Southern Asia (27%); Middle East and North Africa (MENA, 8%); and sub-Saharan Africa (<1%).
Yet, a gross lack of data for many countries suggests there are significant gaps in real figures for women and minors globally.
These gaps in data are particularly concentrated in the MENA region which had the highest number of IS affiliates in Syria and Iraq – 18,852.
The number of recorded infants born inside the IS’ ‘caliphate’ to international parents – at least 730 – has also led to an underestimation of minors that must now be accounted for as foreign returnees. IS affiliates and status after the fall of the ‘caliphate’
This report is the first to map out in detail the diverse trajectories of IS foreign affiliates after the fall of the ‘caliphate’: from those who were killed in Syria and Iraq; executed by IS from within their own ranks; detained by regional authorities; involved in detainee exchanges; repatriated to their home nations; in third-party countries; or whose status is simply unknown.