For the first time, Paris makes a repatriation including mothers with their children. It is a break with the policy of the “case by case” adopted so far by France, which consists, de facto, of bringing back to the national soil of children without their mothers.
Le Monde with AFP
The return to France of children living in the Syrian camps continues. On Tuesday, July 5, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced in a statement “having returned to the national territory of thirty-five French minors who were in camps in northeast Syria”, so that sixteen mothers.
Children “have been given to the services responsible for childhood assistance and will be the subject of medical follow -up”, mothers have been transferred “to the competent judicial authorities”, adds the quay D’Orsay.
Policy of repatriation on a case -by -case basis
Since 2016, 126 children whose parents have joined territories conquered to the Islamic State have been repatriated to France. But the largest contingent, nearly 200 minors and 80 mothers, are still retained in northeast Syrian camps controlled by the Kurds.
Fembling the Pas de Germany, Belgium had resolved at the end of June to repatriate almost all of its children, of whom only five left on the spot. Paris in contrast, had until then always had a policy of return to a case by case basis – to the point of being criticized by the Committee on the Rights of the UN Child, which considers that France “violated the rights of children French detained in Syria by failing to repatriate them “. He denounces “appalling” on -site conditions, “putting their lives in danger for years”, according to his observations published in February. These children piled up under tents, exposed to extreme temperatures, out of school “lack basic necessities, in particular water, food and health care, and face an imminent risk of death”, are alarmed by experts from the UN.