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The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg
Photo: Violetta Kuhn/ dpa
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has condemned France for failing to adequately examine requests by French supporters of the terrorist organization "Islamic State" (IS) and their children to return from Syria.
The European Convention on Human Rights does not give a general obligation for countries to bring back IS migrants.
However, the authorities and courts must examine the applications more closely and provide sufficient legal protection, the judges announced on Wednesday in Strasbourg.
France must now process the applications again and pay the two families 18,000 euros and 13,200 euros respectively.
The verdict could also have an impact on how IS returnees are treated in other countries.
The background to the case is the demands of two pairs of grandparents to bring their daughters and grandchildren back from Syria.
The two women and their partners joined the "Islamic State" in 2014 and 2015.
They have been stuck in Kurdish-controlled camps in northern Syria since 2019.
Aid organizations warn of the critical conditions in these camps.
The family members had tried unsuccessfully to bring the women and children back to France.
The European Court of Human Rights, based in Strasbourg, France, is part of the Council of Europe.
The bodies, which are independent of the EU, work to protect human rights in the 46 member states.
jso/dpa