Records of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group in Iraq, seized by US soldiers in the field, show that more than 100.000 minors are registered as dependent family members of IS members, it was announced today.
That report, titled "Minor Misery", was written by researchers from the Counter-Terrorism Center (CTC) at the US military academy West Point, the only one authorized to release declassified data after it was studied by US intelligence services.
Those documents concern "101.850 minors associated with at least one adult who received money from ID." There are practically equal numbers of girls and boys (50,2 percent of girls, 49,78 percent of boys).
From the total number of that list, 16.121 minors (16 percent of the total number) were born after June 2014, the date of the announcement of the creation of the self-proclaimed "caliphate", and that is why the question of citizenship arises, because no one recognizes their birth certificates.
CTC researchers were able to determine the nationality of origin of 76.273 minors: the vast majority (70.213) are Iraqi, and a total of 57 nationalities are represented. More than 1.200 are from Jordan, 654 from Syria, 380 from Turkey, 375 from Saudi Arabia.
Among European countries, the most numerous are from France (52) and Germany (17).
CTC researchers warn that all these figures are incomplete and that the number of jihadist children born or who lived under the influence of IS, in Iraq and Syria, is necessarily higher.
"It is counterproductive to consider all minors who were under the auspices of IS as 'time bombs' or 'sleeper agents,'" CTC researchers say.
"Although some of them may commit acts of terrorism or participate in conflict, the challenges they are most likely to face will be in the short, medium and long term, homelessness, traumatisation, anxiety, depression, unemployment, domestic violence or crime," the authors add. of the 26-page report published on the CTC website.
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