VUB child psychologist Gerrit Loots investigates integration of Belgian IS children
Insights are presented in website and book
Professor Loots and scientists from VUB’s Faculty of Sociology, the interfaculty research group Voicing Youth at Social Risk (VOICE) and psychotherapist Hannan Jamai will follow the six children, their families and the care professionals involved for 2.5 years to map out the integration process through their eyes. The researchers will organise, among other things, in-depth monthly conversations with the individual family members, creative games sessions with the children and focus groups with the entire family and care providers. The findings will then be compiled on a website and in a practical book on the reception, care and social integration of children and young people who have found themselves in situations of social polarisation and violence.
“For two years, we have been working on the return of the children using scientific arguments and medical and psychological research to refute and break through the polarising discourse in society, where the idea that these children pose a serious threat to society because of traumatisation, early indoctrination and radicalisation is perpetuated,” says Professor Loots, who was awarded the 2019 Human Rights Prize from the League for Human Rights last Saturday for his rescue missions. “This not only prevents the return of children and their mothers but also hampers the provision of care and social integration after repatriation. With this new research project, we want to ensure successful repatriation and social integration for the young people who have recently returned from Syria, but also for the 35 younger children and their mothers who are still detained today in Kurdish refugee camps. I continue to advocate the repatriation of IS children to our country out of respect for children’s rights and human rights.”
For more information:
Professor Gerrit Loots
[email protected]
0476/97 33 31