Dutch woman and three children repatriated from ISIL camp in Syria New conflicts

The administration, led by Kurds in northeastern Syria, handed the group over to a delegation from the Netherlands on Saturday.

The Kurdish-led Kurdish administration in northeastern Syria handed over to the Netherlands a Dutch woman, her two young sons and a Dutch girl who lived in a camp for the families of the alleged ISIL (ISIS) group.

A Dutch delegation led by a special envoy for Syria, Emiel de Bont, received four on Saturday in the city of Qamishli at the offices of the Kurdish administration.

The group will be taken home and Kurdish authorities say the adult woman has no criminal charges against their administration.

The move was a small step towards solving a complicated problem for European and Middle Eastern countries: what to do with the thousands of citizens who have traveled to ISIL’s territories in Syria and Iraq.

In a press conference scheduled for delivery, De Bont said the four live in a small settlement known as Camp Roj, mostly taken by western women who have traveled to Syria and Iraq and their children.

“The consular legal mission is very specific and my government has decided that a Dutch court has ruled in these specific cases,” De Bont said. He did not provide further details about the resolutions.

“We are here then to support the rule of law and to support the legal process needed to do everything we can,” he added.

‘The most dangerous camp’

It was the second time that Dutch citizens have been evicted from camps in northeastern Syria, where thousands of foreigners and Iraqis have lived since the defeat of the armed group in 2019. Two Dutch orphans were brought home in June 2019.

European countries have not wanted to repatriate citizens living in such situations. Most are concerned that there is not enough evidence to prosecute those who joined the group or fear that they will maintain ties with ISIL.

A Dutch court ruled last year that authorities are not forced to take home a group of 23 Dutch women currently imprisoned in northern Syria and their group of 56 children. Experts said there would be exceptions in individual cases.

At least 220 children of Dutch nationality remain in Syria or Turkey, 75% of whom are under the age of four and whose parents were born in the region to Dutch citizens.

Syrian Kurdish authorities, who were part of the international coalition that fought against ISIL until the fall of the self-styled “caliphate” in March 2019, say camps with more than 70,000 ISIL members are a security threat and a burden. The Kurds continue to fight the fleeing fighters, and fear that the camps may also have some active members of ISIL.

“The international community must assume its responsibilities in bringing these militants to trial and repatriating citizens,” said Syrian Kurdish official Abdulkarim Omar.

He asked for help to manage another camp, the wider and more spacious al-Hol, which he called “the most dangerous camp in the world.”

Aid groups have described harsh conditions in al-Holen, where Syrian Kurdish officials have tried to control them and where killings have escalated. Supposedly, ISIL supporters carry out a punishment against those who deviate from the group’s ideology.

Thousands are also incarcerated in prisons, and formal legal proceedings and trials are rare.