Repatriation of jihadist women and their children: France, a model to follow? 

On 27 July, the ombudswoman, Claire Hedon, issued a statement on the situation of French children detained in the camps in Syrian Kurdistan, making it known that the government's repatriation policy of "cas par cas" does not work and cannot be accepted today. The ombudsman, in France, is an independent administrative authority whose role is to defend the rights of citizens vis-à-vis the administrations and to promote the rights of children. The Ombudswoman has intervened at the European Court of Human Rights and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child to share her observations on the dramatic detention of these children for the last two or three years in Syrian camps, even though most of them are no older than six years old. The ombudswoman draws attention to the fact that her recommendations submitted to the French government have been ignored and that it must take appropriate measures to put an end to this treatment, which is not in the best interests of the children. 

France, which has always been considered as the cradle of human rights, is it respecting them by acting in this way? Legally, France has an obligation to repatriate these children and their mothers because the conditions of detention are contrary to the human rights protected by several conventions signed by France. First of all, by acting with the cas par cas to proceed with the repatriation of its nationals from the Syrian camps, it does not respect the Declaration of Human and Citizen's Rights of 1789, by which France has ignored the values of its state, since article eight of this declaration states that no one can be punished without the virtue of a previously enacted law. In this case, these women and their children are detained in a camp without the virtue of a law enacted by a competent authority as the Kurdish forces do not have a legal existence nor a state to create laws and carry out their legal detention. 

Secondly, the French government does not respect neither the European Convention on Human Rights nor the Universal Convention on Human Rights because it is known that women as well as minors in these camps live inhuman and degrading treatment such as the existence of an underground prison where French women and their children have been detained without light and water for several days. However, articles 3 and 5 of these Conventions signed by France stipulate that "no one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment". 

France was the first country in the world to create protection for minors in the mid-19th century and was the driving force behind the creation of children's rights at European and international level. In fact, it was the second country after Sweden to have ratified the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, but it was also one of the first countries not to respect it in terms of its government's refusal to repatriate minors and their mothers, despite the fact that their detention does not respect the rights defended by France throughout history. For example, by signing the CIDE, France has committed itself "to ensure the child the protection and care necessary for his or her well-being" (article 3), but in the Syrian camps, the children have no access to health care or education. 

France could respect its international commitments by repatriating its children in order to put an end to this disastrous and inhumane situation. It could also confirm once again that it is the "country of human rights", give even more importance to its human values and show its European partners concerned by the repatriation of its jihadists that it is a model to follow. 

Indeed, France could be quite influential at the European level in terms of jihadist repatriation policies in Europe, as it has a significant number of nationals who have gone to Syria to join the terrorist organisation, and is currently one of the European countries with the most minors in Syrian camps. If France had the will to teach other European governments that it is possible to repatriate, try, punish and rehabilitate supporters of a terrorist group while respecting human rights, then they would follow the model without fear, as France has suffered from the majority of jihadist attacks in recent years in Europe. 

Finally, the most democratic countries are the most reluctant to repatriate these children from the Syrian hell. Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have repatriated their nationals. Thus, since 2019, more than 1000 foreign minors have been repatriated to their country of origin, among them, only a hundred come from European Union countries, including 35 from France in application of the cas par cas policy that selects children. Today, there are still 200 French children in the Syrian camps who are spending a summer of over 50 degrees in a tent without drinking water and without education. 

In addition to being a humanitarian problem, it is a security problem as jihadist ideology is very present within these camps and there are real risks of radicalisation. Without rehabilitation and educational programmes, today's children detained in these camps may become tomorrow's terrorists. Hence the importance of proceeding with their repatriation by putting an end to the cas par cas policy that does not allow these children to be saved from jihadist ideology and human misery. 

Both France and Spain, which has some 17 minors in these camps, are reluctant to repatriate them, although some European countries have not waited for France to change its position before proceeding with the repatriation of these children to their mothers: Belgium started in July, Finland, Italy and Germany have also done so, and Denmark has announced its next repatriation. However, France prefers to remain silent in the face of the recommendations issued by national and international committees and administrations, and in the face of social mobilisations calling for the repatriation of all French minors with their mothers, such as those of the United Families Collective or the petition launched at the end of June in the newspaper Le Monde by 110 French artists and celebrities. 

Perhaps the government's ignorance of this problem has something to do with the 2022 presidential elections, since it has been revealed, thanks to a survey conducted by Odoxa in February 2019, that French society was not in favour of such repatriation.

Axèle Meindl: Analyst in International and Domestic French Terrorism Contributor to the Terrorism and Armed Conflict Department at Sec2Crime

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