2026 UNODC Enhances Psychosocial Support Capacities of Maldives for Reintegration of Returnees

UNODC Enhances Psychosocial Support Capacities of Maldives for Reintegration of Returnees

Across the world, governments continue to navigate the complex realities linked to the return of individuals and families associated with foreign terrorist fighters. Many of those returning have endured conflict and displacement and require approaches that are grounded in human rights and long-term psychosocial wellbeing. In the Maldives, where the country has faced one of the highest per-capita rates of foreign terrorist fighters, national institutions are working to address these sensitive issues.

To strengthen Member States’ responses to this global challenge, UN Security Council Resolution 2396 (2017) mandated UNODC to provide technical assistance in the rehabilitation and reintegration of returnees and their associated family members. The Security Council resolution call on Member States to:

“…develop and implement comprehensive and tailored prosecution, rehabilitation, and reintegration strategies and protocols, in accordance with their obligations under international law, including with respect to foreign terrorist fighters and spouses and children accompanying returning and relocating foreign terrorist fighters, as well as their suitability for rehabilitation, and to do so in consultation, as appropriate, with local communities, mental health and education practitioners and other relevant civil society organizations and actors, and requests UNODC and other relevant UN agencies, consistent with their existing mandates and resources, and other relevant actors to continue providing technical assistance to Member States, upon request, in this regard.”

In line with this mandate, UNODC supports Member States in developing effective human rights based, whole-of-government and whole-of-society approaches to preventing violent extremism (PVE) conducive to terrorism and rehabilitation and reintegration of returnees, and their associated families. In the Maldives, UNODC is implementing a national project entitled “Promoting Security and Stability in the Maldives” funded by the Government of Australia, for the period 2025 to 2026.

A key pillar and objective of this project is to enhance the capacity of the Maldives National Reintegration Centre (NRC) under the Ministry of Homeland Security and Technology, and other relevant stakeholders to deliver trauma-informed care and rehabilitation services. From 12 to 23 October 2025, UNODC and the Maldives NRC organised a two-week training on mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) at the NRC premises, aimed at enhancing its institutional capacity to deliver trauma-informed rehabilitation and reintegration services for returnees.

In session: Classroom lectures led by UNODC Expert with NRC staff members and case workers, scholars from the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, and local school teachers on psychological first aid and trauma-informed care for mental health and psychosocial support.

18 participants (11 female, 7 male) from the NRC, the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, and local teachers attended the sessions, which introduced principles and techniques for trauma-informed care and rehabilitation, psychological first-aid and crisis management, and psychosocial needs assessments. Through classroom lessons, simulation exercises and peer exchanges, participants strengthened their ability to provide MHPSS interventions that support the safe and dignified rehabilitation and reintegration of returnee families.

The workshop provided participants with a theoretical basis for understanding the different stages of trauma and their varying psychosomatic symptoms, along with training on practical techniques and approaches to providing trauma-informed care and rehabilitation, corresponding to each category of trauma response.

This activity was made possible with thanks to the generous funding from the Government of Australia

United Nations

Office on Drugs and Crime

UNODC Enhances Psychosocial Support Capacities of Maldives for Reintegration of Returnees