An organization supporting 20 Australian children and 11 women detained in camps in northeastern Syria filed a complaint with Australian courts on Tuesday demanding their repatriation.
These jihadist women and children live in the Kurdish-controlled Al-Hol and Al-Roj camps, where violence and deprivation are widespread. They have been there since the end in 2019 of the “caliphate” established by the Islamic State jihadist group in Syria.
The humanitarian organization Save the Children Australia (STCA) lodged a complaint on behalf of these women and children, demanding their repatriation.
The trial opened in the Supreme Court in Melbourne on Tuesday, almost a year after the Australian government repatriated four women and 13 children from Al-Roj and Al-Hol camps.
“The situation of the remaining detainees is dramatic and urgent,” said Peter Morrissey, a lawyer for the Australian organization acting on their behalf. The latter “represents women and children who are not accused of any crime and who are detained in deplorable and appalling conditions,” he argued in court.
“Their incarceration in the camps lasted several years,” Mr Morrissey stressed.
The issue of repatriations is politically contentious in Australia, where the conservative opposition party has repeatedly cited national security reasons to oppose it.
“Despite countless opportunities to repatriate these families, the Australian government has ultimately failed in its duty to safely return all of its citizens,” criticized Mat Tinkler, the organization’s director general.
He called for political change and said: “I hope that these children and their mothers will be repatriated very soon.”