In the murky world
of Daesh families, all diplomacy is conducted quietly. Last Monday, the Spanish
government quietly admitted it would bring back several Spanish wives and
children of Daesh fighters, before the end of the year. Newspaper reports
placed the number at three women and 13 children — a figure which, while small,
represents a significant change for European countries.
اضافة اعلان
It takes the number to more than 500 women and
children repatriated from Kurdish-run detention camps in northern Syria this
year — the highest number of foreign nationals ever sent back, and a sign that
the tide of refusals by countries abroad, especially European countries, is
gradually turning.
The question of what to do with wives and children
of Daesh fighters has bedeviled countries across the world since the
once-sprawling Daesh territory was retaken in 2019. There are perhaps 10,000
men and boys held in Kurdish-run prisons, and another 60,000 women and children
in Kurdish camps. The exact number of Europeans is unknown, but has been
estimated at around 1,000. For years, the focus has been on returning women and
children, many of whom were born in Daesh-controlled territory.
Almost all European countries initially refused to
bring back their citizens, citing a variety of reasons, from lack of access to
the camps to security issues. But in the past 18 months, most have relented,
and all the major European countries have taken back at least a handful of
their citizens, always women and children.
Spain is only the most recent Western country to do
so. In the past few weeks, France, Britain and Australia have returned
citizens. The change appears to be related to a high profile case brought
against France at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) this year.
The French case was watched particularly closely
because so many French citizens joined Daesh — more, in fact, than any other
European country. Paris has been very reluctant to bring back women and
children — even orphans — arguing that they still pose a security risk.
The case at the ECHR was brought on behalf of two
women currently in a Kurdish-run prison camp with their children, and argued
that the refusal of the French government to repatriate them amounted to a
violation of the women’s right to enter the territory of their nationality. In
mid-September, France lost the case and agreed to reexamine the files of the
two women.
A week later, France suddenly repatriated 15 women
and 40 children, one of the largest mass repatriations by a European country.
It is unknown whether the two women whose cases went to the ECHR were among
those returned.
The ECHR decision did not change the legal terrain
for European states; it did not even establish that European citizens had to be
returned. All it did was argue that an independent body ought to examine any
such decisions, so that detainees would not be subject to arbitrary decisions.
The question of what to do with women and children of Daesh fighters has bedeviled countries across the world since the once-sprawling Daesh territory was retaken in 2019.
But the ECHR decision appears to have influenced
European and Western countries into thinking that legal pathways for stopping
their citizens returning are running out.
The same week as the ECHR decision, Britain quietly
brought back a woman and her child from the same camp. (That woman was not the
most high profile British detainee, Shamima Begum; Begum currently has a case
before a special immigration court to reverse a controversial decision to strip
her of her citizenship, rendering her stateless.)
The biggest change, however, has come in Australia.
Having refused to repatriate any citizens since 2019, at the end of October,
Australia brought back 17 citizens, a decision that caused a media firestorm.
Even the families in Australia heard the decision via the media, such was the
secrecy. Yet Australia’s government may well be about to go further. Media
reports suggested as many as 60 Australians may come home before the end of the
year. Given that media reports had previously put the number of Australians in
Kurdish camps at just 50, that could mean the government will repatriate all
its citizens. Given the secrecy, the government has not addressed whether the
ECHR decision was a factor.
Yet for all the legal and political arguments over
the repatriation of Western citizens, the hardest part is yet to come. Bringing
back women and children from Daesh camps was always going to be controversial,
but it was the easier half of the problem. For one thing, it was always clear
they could not stay; it is not the job of Syrian or Kurdish authorities to look
after the criminal citizens of the West.
Moreover, the tools to deal with them already exist.
Just this month, an American woman from Kansas who led an all-female Daesh
brigade was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Allison Fluke-Ekren was one of a
suspected 300 Americans who fought for Daesh — she was repatriated and faced
trial. Similar trials or extended periods of surveillance are manageable.
No, the real test is yet to come. Because once the women
and children of Daesh fighters have been brought home, attention will turn to
the fighters themselves. The political firestorm accompanying every single
repatriated male of fighting age will be immense. Politicians may have taken
notice of the ECHR decision and sped up the return of some former Daesh brides.
But every Western politician will be keen to delay the day their husbands are
processed as far into the future as possible.
Faisal Al Yafai is currently writing a book on the Middle East and is a frequent
commentator on international TV news networks. He has worked for news outlets
such as The Guardian and the BBC, and reported on the Middle East, Eastern
Europe, Asia and Africa. Twitter: @FaisalAlYafai. Syndication Bureau.
Read more Opinion and Analysis
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
