ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Human Rights Watch on Wednesday urged Nordic nations to repatriate 164 of their citizens, mainly children, being held in “life-threatening conditions” in northeast Syria (Rojava).
There are 114 Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish children, more than half of them under the age of six, 36 women, and 14 men held among thousands of foreigners with suspected links to the Islamic State group (ISIS) in camps in Rojava, according to the watchdog.
“Nordic countries have the ability to end the unlawful detention and horrific suffering of their nationals, most of them children who were victims of ISIS,” said Human Rights Watch’s Letta Tayler. “As these detainees enter a third year of indefinite detention, their governments’ excuses for inaction ring increasingly hollow.”
There are an estimated 60,000 people from dozens of countries, mainly family members of suspected ISIS fighters including more than 8,500 foreigners, housed in al-Hol camp and another fewer than 2,500 are in Roj camp. Rojava authorities have repeatedly called on governments to take responsibility for their citizens, but most Western nations are reluctant to repatriate nationals who may be a security risk and are making decisions on a case-by-case basis, prioritizing children.
Rojava authorities arrange the repatriations with visiting foreign delegations, but fighters and women who have committed crimes will not be handed over, and children will not be allowed to leave without the consent of their mothers, Abdulkarim Omar, co-chair of Rojava’s foreign relations office, told Rudaw English last week. Those who have committed crimes “should be tried here,” in northeast Syria where the crimes were committed, he said.
Rojava authorities have said they intend to put on trial thousands of suspected ISIS members and were working with Sweden for international monitoring of the trials.
According to Human Rights Watch, a judge has not reviewed the legality of the detention of any of the foreigners held in Rojava.
Conditions in the overcrowded al-Hol camp are poor. Dozens of people have died in 2021 and there is concern the camp is a breeding ground for terrorism.
Last week, Denmark’s Justice Minister Nick Hekkerup said they would repatriate 22 people – three women and their 14 children, as well as five other children without their mothers.
So far, the four Nordic countries have repatriated 25 of their nationals, according to Human Rights Watch.
On Tuesday, a French delegation visited Rojava and Kurdish authorities reiterated the need for the international community to repatriate and rehabilitate the children of suspected ISIS families.
Rojava authorities have released some Syrian families, allowing them to return to their homes, and on Tuesday a first group of 100 Iraqi families were returned and taken to al-Jada camp near Qayyara.
