Australia refuses to repatriate 31 citizens from NE Syrian
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – An Australian court ruled on Friday that the federal government does not have a “legal obligation” to repatriate 31 Australian women and children who have been held in a camp for Islamic State (ISIS) family members in northeast Syria.
The Australians are the wives, widows and children of ISIS militants. Most have been held in Roj camp in far northeast Syria for four years, according to the Guardian.
Roj is one of several detention camps in northeast Syria and holds about 727 families, numbering 2.310 individuals including 1.582 children.
About 30 children and 11 women of Australian nationality are believed to remain in NE Syria’s camps, while the Australian government has not yet announced any further repatriation missions.
Save the Children Australia – which represented the 11 Australian women and their 20 children – argued the government had a legal obligation to repatriate the Australian citizens.
During the case, Save the Children argued Australia had de facto control of the Australians’ detention and the acquiescence of authorities in Syria to Australians being returned.
However, in a judgment delivered in the federal court in Melbourne, justice Mark Moshinsky said the Australian government did not have control of the region and dismissed Save the Children’s case.
Save the Children said that if Australia was to request that repatriation, it would be permitted, as the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) had expressly asked coalition countries, including Australia, to repatriate their citizens.
The government’s lawyers said it was not responsible for the Australians going to Syria or becoming detained, and claimed that the camp detention is under the discretion of the AANES, over which the Australian government has no authority.
The Red Cross urged Australia to rescue citizens from dire conditions in the camp.
The issue of ISIS families, hail from more than 60 nationalities, constitutes an ongoing and challenging issue on the AANES, which repeatedly demands the concerned countries to repatriate their nationals.
In April, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) called on Australia to repatriate its citizens held in camps in northeast Syria.
In October 2022, the Australian government repatriated four Australian women and 13 children from Syria.