ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria handed over two orphans of ISIS-member parents to a delegation from the Austrian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday in what is the first repatriation of children of Austrian citizenship.
The parents of the boys aged one and three had been killed during ISIS clashes with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The children’s grandmother in Vienna has been granted custody.
After signing a document of receipt with the officials from the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES), envoy of the Austrian foreign ministry Kunter Rieser told journalists they were grateful for the Kurdish-led administration’s assistance and, more broadly, their defense of the international community against terrorism.
“We acknowledge the sufferings and sacrifices of the people of Syria and salute the efforts of all democratic forces that have stood against terrorism which threatens the international community at large,” he said.
The Austrian foreign ministry had revealed they would repatriate the two orphans born to 15-year-old mother who joined ISIS in 2014 in late August.
"We have decided to bring back the two orphans, and preparations have started... It is the first repatriation of children from this region," ministry spokesperson Peter Guschelbauer told AFP at the time.
The decision by an Austrian court to grant custody of the children to their grandmother came after DNA testing to confirm biological relation came back positive, explained Guschelbauer.
Fenr Al-Ka'it, deputy head of NES foreign relations, told journalists on Wednesday that the process of handing over the two children of the Austrian woman took a month.
More than 11,000 family members of suspected ISIS militants are being held or detained at facilities run by Kurdish-led authorities in Syria, who have repeatedly called on the international community to repatriate their citizens.
Facilities include the notorious Al-Hol camp, where a Monday armed clash between ISIS-affiliated women and the camp’s guards resulted in the death of a widow of an ISIS fighters and injury of several others.
Few countries have responded positively to the repatriation call. Some European countries have repatriated their nationals on a case-by-case basis, in what they say is to protect the most vulnerable of children.
ISIS was heavily reliant on the use of international recruits to take control of swaths of Syria and Iraq in the summer of 2014. It was declared territorially defeated in Iraq in December 2017 and in Syria by the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in March 2019.
The group has managed to retain a sleeper cell presence in both countries, carrying out sporadic acts of violence including kidnap, arson, hit-and-run attacks, and the targeted killing of both officials and civilians.
