Amnesty International called on President Emmanuel Macron to return the 200 French children detained in Syria, and to place human rights "at the center of the priorities" of his new term, in a statement issued on Sunday evening, shortly after Macron's victory in a second term.
"We call for the resettlement of the 200 French children detained in Syria, contrary to all rules of law, without any delay, and this is the approach adopted by many European countries," the organization said in a statement.
Paris is currently adopting a policy of resettlement based on a case-by-case study, and has already returned 35 children, most of whom are orphans, and stresses the need to prosecute adults where they are.
The return of the French who joined the Islamic State is a sensitive issue in a country still traumatized by the jihadist attacks carried out on its soil since 2015.
"The first presidential term was not ideal in the field of human rights, so we call on the re-elected President of the Republic... to make his second term exemplary," Cécile Coudreau, head of Amnesty International France, said in the statement.
"While evidence of alleged international crimes has begun to be collected in Ukraine and several European countries have been able to prosecute Syrian war criminals on the basis of universal jurisdiction, French law still contains restrictions that severely undermine the capabilities of its courts," the organization noted.
She said it was time "to break free from ambiguous legislation and make the necessary adaptations to allow all legal avenues to allow suspects of international crimes to be tried in France," according to the non-governmental organization.
In its statement, Amnesty International stressed the need for France to stop selling arms destined to countries that violate human rights, and called for the establishment of an "effective parliamentary monitoring mechanism" to scrutinize arms sales.