Peace & Security
Journeys through Extremism: The Experiences of Forced Recruits in Boko Haram
RESOLVE Network · Research Report · 2022
Provides exploratory research with forced recruits into Boko Haram, focusing on how they entered the organization, the conditions they experienced in camps and settlements, their exits from the group, their subsequent experiences in state hands, and their perspectives about future reintegration — themes made pressing by the mass disengagements under way at the time of writing and the limited capacity of federal and state systems to absorb the numbers involved.
James Khalil, MaryAnne Iwara and Martine Zeuthen, “Journeys through Extremism: The Experiences of Forced Recruits in Boko Haram,” Research Report, RESOLVE Network, U.S. Institute of Peace, 2022. https://doi.org/10.37805/cbags2022.1
The research was undertaken at Operation Safe Corridor (OPSC), established in 2016 by the Nigerian state to provide an off-ramp for members of Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) deemed “low risk” by military intelligence, and draws on thirteen in-depth interviews with OPSC clients.