A/HRC/42/42/Add.2 which an individual was promised that, if he went to the Syrian Arab Republic, a payment of €4,000 would be made to his family. Other recruits were reportedly promised salaries in excess of those paid to local fighters and, in some cases, even houses and cars. In a number of cases, the motivation could comprise a combination of financial and other factors. 40. The Working Group was informed that humanitarian assistance was also a common motivation. When the crisis in the Syrian Arab Republic began in 2011, a number of individuals from the region travelled to the conflict zone to fight against the Assad regime and to provide services to combatants, for example as doctors. Some interlocutors stated that they were certain that some individuals who had travelled from Austria, particularly those from the older generation, were classic mercenaries. Many stated that young people were more likely to travel for ideological reasons – in order to find a group where they felt they could belong or to obtain status or respect – or because of their religious belief, involving an imagined paradise and the attraction of living in a community of shared religious values and practices. Some young people became foreign fighters in rebellion against or in opposition to their families. The general age range for those travelling was reported to be from 18 to 35 years. 41. Although most fighters have been men, women have also travelled, mainly to join their husbands or friends. Young women and girls were mostly reported to have travelled to conflict zones in order to become brides of ISIL or Nusrah members. In April 2014, two Austrian teenagers of Bosnian descent, aged 15 and 16, travelled to the Syrian Arab Republic to marry ISIL fighters. Both the girls were reportedly recruited through a mosque whose preachers held violent, extremist ideologies. Their cases became well known due to their ages, as did the fact that they had been radicalized without their family’s knowledge – a trend that would soon be evident among youths travelling to conflict zones. 42. One particular feature of the foreign fighter phenomenon in Austria is that around 50 per cent of the fighters who have travelled have been of Chechen origin. While many people who spoke to the delegation said that some individuals had been radicalized to join groups such as ISIL due to their ideological leanings, others pointed to the fact that quite a number of Chechens viewed the war in the Syrian Arab Republic as an extension of the war between the Russian Federation and Chechnya, and thus joined the conflict as an act of retaliation. There is a large Chechen diaspora in Austria, and nationals of various Balkan countries with refugee status have been particularly targeted by recruiters. Alleged foreign fighters have included Afghans, Austrians, Bosnians, Kurds, Russians, ethnic Serbs and Turks. Many fighters from the older generation were said to have been affected by the wars that they had experienced in their countries of origin and to be likely to travel to conflict zones. The trauma that many of them had experienced made it difficult for them to integrate into society, and they were thus more likely to be drawn back into conflict. 43. In some cases, entire families, including children, have travelled together. The Working Group noted that many of the individuals who became radicalized were from a migration background and from disadvantaged and poor communities, and had reportedly experienced racism, religious discrimination, poverty, lack of opportunity, social and societal rejection and mental health issues. This prompted much discussion about discrimination against particular ethnic and religious groups, the need for better integration and social cohesion and the need to pay attention to the specific circumstances that led the foreign fighters to be radicalized in the first place. Some of the political discourse in the country was seen as having strong anti-migrant elements and as contributing to the challenges hindering the integration of migrants and their sense of belonging in society. 44. The Working Group learned that, in many successful cases of deradicalization, individuals had shared their experiences of victimization through racism, poverty and lack of opportunity. This highlights the need to address the root causes of radicalization and violent extremism, rather than focusing exclusively on the symptoms. The Working Group commends the engagement and active involvement of social actors in the National Network for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism and De-radicalization and reiterates the need to maintain a human rights-based approach to tackling the root causes of this phenomenon. 8