“I am very relieved that we were able to repatriate another twelve children and three mothers from camps in Northeastern Syria yesterday,” read a statement from Germany's Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. “The repatriation was based on humanitarian grounds and involved (amongst others) orphans and sick children – cases in which a repatriation was deemed particularly necessary and urgent.”
As part of the same operation, Finland brought home six children and two adult mothers. Under the constitution, “Finnish public authorities are obligated to safeguard the basic rights of the Finnish children interned in the camps insofar as this is possible. The basic rights of the children interned in the al-Hol camps can be safeguarded only by repatriating them to Finland,” read a statement from Finland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
According to the Finnish statement, more than 9,000 foreign women and children, two thirds of them children, are still being held in the al-Hol and Roj camps housing suspected Islamic State family members and sympathizers in northeastern Syria. Many European nations have resisted repatriating their nationals from the camps, because of the security risks.
Kurdish authorities who administer the camps have repeatedly appealed for international assistance and called on countries to take responsibility for their citizens. Elham Ahmed, president of the Executive Committee of the Syrian Democratic Council, warned that a generation of children was growing up in the camps “that can help Daesh [ISIS] get stronger and regroup, creating a threat again.”
Berlin said the children, on return to Germany, will “receive protection and there will be investigations into a potential criminal liability of the mothers.”
Beginning next year, Kurdish authorities plan to put on trial thousands of suspected ISIS members under local laws but with international monitoring. They are holding some 10,000 foreigners, 5,000 Iraqis, and 25,000 Syrians.
