Ten children of French jihadists repatriated from Syria

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Retained in camps for displaced people under Kurdish control in Syria, the children were repatriated to France overnight from Sunday to Monday, the French Foreign Ministry announced.

Publicity

"  France today proceeded to the return of ten young French minor children, orphans or humanitarian cases, who were in camps in northeastern Syria.  The press release from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs gives no details on their place of arrival in France, nor on the circumstances under which they left Syria.

"  These children have been handed over to the French judicial authorities, are now the subject of special medical monitoring and care by social services,  " said only the Quai d'Orsay.

Since the Islamic State group collapsed in March 2019, France has brought a total of 28 children from Syria. Paris "  thanked  " the semi-autonomous Kurdish administration in north-eastern Syria for its "  cooperation  " in this new repatriation, stressing that it had acted "  in the light of the situation of these particularly vulnerable young children and within the framework of the authorizations given by local officials  ”.

Brain teaser

The fall of the IS caliphate proclaimed in 2014 marked the beginning of a puzzle for the international community: under what conditions should we repatriate families of jihadists captured or killed in Syria and Iraq? Returns to European countries such as Austria, Germany or France take place drop by drop .

The French government is reluctant to bring back its approximately 150 adult nationals, men and women, whose judgment it wishes to see on the spot. The situation is further complicated for the approximately 300 children of non-orphaned French jihadists, for whom the mother's authorization is required.

In total, some 12,000 foreigners, 4,000 women and 8,000 children have settled in three camps for displaced people in the northeast, the vast majority in Al-Hol, according to Kurdish authorities.

Insistence of the United States

Kurdish officials have often called on the countries concerned to repatriate their nationals, saying that they cannot keep them for much longer. A call also regularly relayed by the United States which is concerned about the risk of escape and dispersion of jihadists detained in other theaters or for some towards Europe in order to carry out attacks there.

In January, UN investigators also pleaded for the repatriation, at least of the children, in a "  particularly precarious  " situation . In 2019, 517 people, including 371 children, died in Al-Hol camp, a Kurdish Red Crescent official in the camp told AFP in mid-January.

► Read also: France: no trial in Iraq for jihadists detained in Syria

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• France
• Syria
• Rights of the child

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