More than 600 children of European jihadists, about a third of whom are French, are currently held in camps in northeastern Syria under Kurdish control, according to a study by Belgian researchers published Wednesday, October 28, which deplores the "
inaction
" of their governments.
Read also: The Kurds free Syrian jihadists
According to Thomas Renard and Rik Coolsaet, jihadism experts at the Egmont Institute in Brussels, “
between 610 and 680
” children from the EU are being held with their mothers in the Roj and Al-Hol camps, where since 2019 many former combatants of the Islamic State group.
By adding the 400 or so adults - including men in prison, notably in Hassaké (Syria) - there are currently around a thousand Europeans deprived of their liberty in the Iraqi-Syrian zone, the study continues, which compiles government figures. , experts and NGOs active on site.
France is the first country concerned since “
150 to 200
” of its adult nationals and “
200 to 250
The children are believed to be there, mostly in Syria.
Next come Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Belgium, ahead of the United Kingdom.
“
At least 38
” Belgian children are retained as well as 35 British minors.
The figures relate to eleven countries in total, from which come "
more than 95%
" of Europeans identified among foreign fighters, says the study.
For adults who fought in the ranks of the IS, whose repatriation was excluded, detention "
outside any international legal framework
", combined with the vagueness of the prospect of a trial, recalls the case of prisoners of the American camp of Guantanamo, the authors point out.
"
A similar situation arises today for these European detainees
", argues to AFP Thomas Renard, calling to consider the track of trial by the Kurdish authorities.
Read also: The UN calls for the repatriation of the children of foreign jihadists in Syria
As for the children, says the researcher, "
they are victims of their parents' choices, of war, of the extremely difficult conditions in these camps and also of the inaction of European governments
".
They "
are fully aware of their situation but have chosen not to repatriate, often despite the recommendations of their own administrations or anti-terrorism services
", continues Thomas Renard.
For him, we must reject the argument sometimes brandished “time
bombs
” that these children would represent once back on European soil.
“
60 to 70% of them are under five years old, and almost all the others are under 12 years old, there are only a handful of teenagers,
” he explains.
Since October 2019, when a Turkish offensive against Kurdish forces further deteriorated living conditions in these camps, "
more than 53
" European women have fled with their children to Turkey, which then deported them to their home country. origin.
But in total for two years, only about sixty children have been repatriated from Syria to a European state.
