Last week a majority of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) formally called on the leaders of member nations, including Switzerland, to repatriate the children of their jihadists nationals held in camps in Syria and Iraq.
PACE, a 47-nation organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, called on member States to actively repatriate, rehabilitate and (re)integrate these children without further delayâ€, which it considers “a human rights obligation and a humanitarian dutyâ€.
It said that these children, stranded in squalid camps and detention centres lack food, access to clean water, medical services, and are exposed to risks of violence, exploitation and sexual abuse, as well as radicalisation. These children were not responsible for the actions of their parents nor for the circumstances in which they find themselves, it said.
Videos published by The New York Times and Sky News late last year show interviews of women and children in the Al-Hol camp in northern Syria, which some have called a hotbed of radicalisation.
Seven children with connections to Switzerland have been identified in these camps, according to the newspaper Tribune de Genève.
More on this:
PACE press release (in English)
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