ISIS terrorist group is paying up to $10,000 to each recruiter in European countries for recruiting people to join ISIS in Syria and Iraq, UN experts said on Friday.
“ISIS is using social media and informal networks of friends and family, with many of them in Syria, to recruit new militants in Belgium,” said Elzbieta Karska, who heads a UN group studying the issue.
According to UN experts, more than 500 Belgians have joined the ranks of ISIS in Syria and Iraq so far, which makes Belgium the top European exporter of ISIS foreign militants.
“Recruiters were paid from two, three thousand to 10,000 dollars depending on who was recruited,” Karska said, pointing out that the findings were preliminary.
“The well-educated people like technology specialists or doctors were paid more,” the human rights lawyer added.
She pointed out that the Belgian-based extremist group of Sharia4Belgium has earlier recruited dozens of people, but many of its members are jailed now.
“Last year, the main way of recruitment was through informal networks and social media,” Karska said.
“Now in Syria, the process of recruitment takes place through friends and family, who are also paid on the basis of the number of persons they recruit or marry .”
“The number of women or girls, who leave Belgium to marry terrorists or care for those who are ill or wounded, increases. Some of them may actually join the military groups and fight,” she argued.
No specific figures are defined for those who left Belgium, but the number of men departing for fighting has reportedly declined from about 10 per month three years ago to some four per month.
source : abna24
