“Emmanuel Macron cannot be the one who will let 200 French children perish in these camps“, said Monday, May 23, 2022 on franceinfo Marie Dosé, lawyer for the Collective association of united families which calls for the repatriation from Syria of these children of jihadists and their mothers.
>> “We have nothing to do here…”: the endless wait for the orphans of French jihadists in the Syrian camp of Roj
This issue of the repatriation of jihadists and their children is not just a subject in France. Head to Morocco, Belgium and Spain to find out how these three countries manage these repatriations.
In Morocco, returns and deliveries to justice
According to a report by the Moroccan parliament, 1,659 Moroccan nationals left to fight in the ranks of Daesh, in Iraq and Syria. Some of them returned of their own free will to their country. “The number I have is 270 returns. Of these 270 returns, a little more than half, that is to say 137, are transferred to justice and judgedexplains Moustafa Sehimi, a Moroccan law professor and political scientist. In this batch, there are a hundred women. We believe that there are serious facts that have been committed and Moroccan law provides for the sanction of these acts.”
The women and children, meanwhile, are waiting to be repatriated from the camps in Syria. Their families demonstrated in front of the Parliament in Rabat, but the situation is complex and dealt with on a case-by-case basis. “Morocco’s policy is the repatriation of women and minors. Morocco believes that it is Moroccan nationals who have rights. Morocco intends to assume responsibility for its children all over the world. It is a sovereign power but it is also a power to protect its nationals“, details Moustafa Sehimi.
As for the fighters arrested against their will in Iraq and Syria, Morocco hopes for bilateral agreements to enable them to serve their sentences in the country.
In Belgium, the repatriation of all children under 12
More than 400 Belgians left to fight in Syria after the outbreak of the war. The current Belgian government assumes its policy of repatriating all children under the age of 12. “These kids don’t have to pay for their parents’ choice“, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo repeated once again last week before the Belgian parliament. The country recently dispatched a new consular mission to the camps in northeastern Syria to identify the Belgian children who are there. If the samples confirm the Belgian filiation, a new repatriation operation could be organised.
It would not be the first, but since the political decision taken in 2017 to do everything to recover them, the returns are being made drop by drop. There are around thirty children who have returned from Turkey and then Syria out of the estimated forty. The last repatriation took place last July. It allowed the return of ten children and six mothers who were living in a Syrian camp. The six women were transferred to prison. Five of them had already been convicted in absentia of terrorism.
As for the ten children, after a medical examination, they were taken in charge by the Belgian youth protection service. Authorities say they were able to say goodbye to their moms in “good conditions”, without further clarification. There is also a lot of discretion around the current living conditions of these children.
Most were left in the care of their grandparents, according to a federal spokesperson. They are also for the majority of them educated.
In Spain, the authorities do not deal with the problem
In the Spanish case, four women and 17 children were left to their fate in the Syrian camps. In reality, the Spanish authorities are not dealing with the problem. There are three women of Spanish nationality as well as a Moroccan wife of a Spaniard. These four women, in fact, are responsible for 17 Spanish children.
The Minister of the Interior, questioned by the newspaper El País last October, claimed he was working to bring “a common response within the framework of the European Union”. However, the European Commission replies quite logically that “the decision whether or not to repatriate nationals is a national competence”.
In the meantime, these women and children continue to live in appalling conditions in the camps. Last February, the Committee on Petitions of the European Parliament, seized by the father of one of these women, indicated that it would request information from the Spanish government.
These women have expressed their desire to return to Spain. El País spoke to two of them and they are aware that they would probably have to go through jail. They are on file and on their return, they would be accused at least of belonging to a terrorist organization, an offense punishable by twelve years in prison.