The year 2012 saw an unprecedented Jihadi mobilisation promoted by terrorist organisations active in Syria and Iraq, with a particular effect on the Western world. A leading instance of the phenomenon are what are known as Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTF): radicalised individuals who journey to the conflict areas of either Middle-Eastern country in order to join terrorist organisations or to settle in locations under their control. They currently pose a security risk to the societies from whence they came -in the event of not having been killed- both whether they return home or stay behind in persistently unstable environments.
This 7th edition of the Elcano Forum on Global Terrorism –with speakers from France, Italy, the US and Spain– aimed to analyse the phenomenon of FTFs on both sides of the Atlantic, particularly focusing on the Euro-Mediterranean area and further considering Spain’s response to the challenges it poses.
The participantes were, among others, Ana Botella, Secretary of State for Security, Spanish Ministry of Interior; Emilio Lamo de Espinosa, Chairman of the Elcano Royal Institute (@PresidenteRIE); and Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens (@amhitchens), Director of Research, Program on Extremism, George Washington University.
The new edition of the Elcano Forum on Global Terrorism is organised by the Elcano Royal Institute in cooperation with the office of the Secretary of State for Security in Spain’s Interior Ministry and the US Embassy in Madrid.
Thursday 24 October 2019, 9:30h-14:15h. International Institute, c/ Miguel Ángel nº 8, Madrid.
Video playlist. 7th Elcano Forum on Global Terrorism. Foreign Terrorist Fighters: the phenomenon and the responses