The most recent repatriations from northeast Syria involved a group of “isolated and particularly vulnerable” children, two of which have been handed over to the Netherlands. Since the fall of the Islamic State’s ‘caliphate’ in March, the foreign community has been struggling with what to do with the families of foreign jihadists who were captured or killed in in Syria or Iraq. Most of the children returned home are malnourished and ill, reports a AFP article.
Abdelkarim Omar, a senior Kurdish official said that the children were handed over to the French and Dutch representatives by Syrian Kurdish authorities. Huge numbers of children are stranded in Syrian camps, so this group is just a small drop in the ocean, says French family lawyer Marie Dose. There are thousands of minors who must deal with “inexplicable and unjustifiable discrimination” although they “are guilty of nothing”.
It has been challenging for any legal action to be carried out given that the Kurdish administration in northeast Syria is not recognized, making the legal framework for any repatriation very unclear.
