Paris (AFP)

A UDI deputy and a communist senator denounced Tuesday the "cowardice" of France which "abandons" women and children detained "in inhuman conditions" in Syria, and called on their colleagues in parliament to mobilize for their repatriation.

"France, which wants to be the homeland of human rights, cannot remain without doing anything to face this dramatic situation", declared Pierre Morel-A-L'Huissier, deputy of Lozère, and Pierre Laurent, senator of Paris, during a press conference in Paris.

Indignant at "the stagnation of Paris" which repatriates only "drop by drop" while there is "urgency" for some 80 women and 200 children still detained in Syria, they wrote to their colleagues. edges to call on them to show "political courage" and to demand with them at the Elysee Palace a general repatriation.

The return of these French people who had joined the Islamic State is a sensitive subject in a country marked by the jihadist attacks perpetrated on its soil since 2015, they admit.

But these women and children have been detained for sometimes more than three years "in inhuman conditions, in a war zone, in unsanitary camps run by the Kurdish forces where terror and violence reign", writes Mr. Morel-A-L. 'Bailiff.

"The President of the Republic affirmed in May 2019 that + France (was) a nation that never abandons (has) its children, wherever they are. France abandons them yet, while they all have or almost less than six years, ”he laments.

"On the pretext that French public opinion is mostly hostile to the return of mothers and children, France has chosen to sacrifice them" and "this inertia resonates like deeply inhuman and irresponsible political cowardice," he said.

"Because it is inhuman to let French children perish in these camps, and irresponsible not to repatriate our nationals as other countries have done".

"These children are not guilty of anything, letting them perish in Syria is unworthy of a democracy like ours", writes Mr. Laurent for his part.

As for their mothers, "they must answer for their acts in the only country where they are put to justice, France".

The two men also recalled that the Kurds, who manage these camps, like several UN or European bodies, called on states like France to repatriate these women and children.

Paris has for years maintained a case-by-case return policy for these children (35, mostly orphans, have been repatriated so far) and believes that adults should be tried on the spot.

© 2021 AFP