Prevention Remains Biggest Challenge to Bosnia’s Anti-Terrorism Strategy

"This community has no links to the institutions that might help her re-educate her children in the coming period. To do that here … will be very hard," he said.

Such complex work with returnees from Syria is a new experience for institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, although they have had two years to prepare work on "deradicalizing" Islamic State returnees.

Bosnia's authorities adopted an official strategy on counter-terrorism four-and-a half years ago. That effectively stopped more of its citizens from departing from Syria.

Sacir Gostevcic. Photo: BIRN

But the return of dozens of families following the collapse of IS will reveal how much and how well domestic institutions have worked on the prevention part of the strategy, which constitutes its major part.

Two relevant institutions in Zenica, where Sacir's son lived before his departure to Syria, where his widow's family lives  now, said they had not been able to actively carry out the action plan for implementation of the strategy.

The Social Work Centre told BIRN that while its staff members had undergone training in terrorism and radicalization, they had not received the financial resources to conduct any of the activities listed in the strategy.

The Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports in the Zenica-Doboj Canton, a sub-unit of Bosnia's Federation entity, told BIRN that its activities had included taking part in conferences on including migrants in the educational system as a means for "prevention and combatting terrorism".

But these activities had not continued. The reasons included the lack of money, and of "coordination between the state-level institutions and institutions exclusively responsible for education in their areas".