40 French children, 15 mothers repatriated from Syria camps

NICE, France (AA) – France has repatriated 40 French children and their 15 mothers from camps in Syria, the French government has said.

The minors have been transferred to “child welfare services and will be subject to medical-social monitoring” while “adults have been handed over to the judicial authorities,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The statement commended the local authorities in northeastern Syria for their cooperation, which made the transfer possible.

It has been the first transfer by Paris since the condemnation of the government by the European Court of Human Rights on September 14 over its reluctance on repatriations.

The court said the government should review “as soon as possible” all requests for the repatriation of French women and children detained in camps in northeastern Syria.

The latest transfer involving women comes months after the first group of 16 mothers and 35 children was repatriated on July 5.

Initially, France had only agreed to repatriate a handful of minors whose situation was assessed on a case-by-case basis.

Seventeen children, most of whom were orphaned, and a little girl suffering from heart disease, were repatriated in March and June 2019.

In June 2020, a dozen French children were able to return to France to be taken care of.

In January 2021, seven “particularly vulnerable” minors were repatriated from a camp in northeastern Syria.