Red Crescent willing to return ISIS-linked Dutch citizens, children to the Netherlands

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Dutch Red Crescent announced on Wednesday that it was ready to help to repatriate Dutch citizens with a connection to the Islamic State and their children now in Syria, if requested by the Netherlands.

“It's up to the government to decide whether children and citizens will be repatriated and under what conditions,” it said in a statement.

However, the humanitarian organization added that, if the Dutch government decides to make the request, it must first reach an agreement with other local actors, including the local Kurdish-led authorities, as well as nations used for transit. 

“If the Red Cross is requested, the aid organization is always available for (confidential) consultations with the government and other partners. Facilitating the return trip is also possible if an appeal is made to us and if all parties agree.”

However, the organization made clear that it would never return citizens on its own initiative. 

“As an independent, neutral organization, we operate independently, but we explicitly do not have decision-making authority in this matter,” it said. 

“There must first be a concrete request from the authorities and parties involved to facilitate the return and all parties must agree with this. If that request is made, we will do our utmost to bring the women and children back to the Netherlands in complete transparency.”

The Democratic Autonomous Administration (DAA) for northeast Syria has called on countries to take back their citizens and said that it is ready to facilitate the transit of women and children to their home countries. So far, many European countries, including the Netherlands, have shown their reluctance to take them back.

“The administration and the Syrian people demand of the states from which these ISIS fighters belong, more than 50 nationalities in all, to judge them according to their constitutions,” Co-chair of the DAA, Abdul Hamid al-Muhabash, told Kurdistan 24.

According to a recent public report of the Dutch intelligence service AIVD there are around 30 Dutch women and 65 children in camps in northeastern Syria. 

“The best option for us and our children is to return. I have four children,” a 25-year-old female Dutch citizen known as Umm Ibrahim recently told Kurdistan 24 in Al Hol camp. “The youngest is four months, and I am not satisfied with their health situation.”

However, there are fears that these women and children could pose a security threat if they return to the Netherlands. 

According to the annual report of the Dutch intelligence service, a number of Dutch Jihadists still subscribe to the Islamic State’s ideology and could rejoin Jihadist networks or create new ones, after serving their prison sentences.

According to Yago Riedijk, the imprisoned Dutch husband of Shamima Begum – the well-known British-born female who traveled to Syria to join the Islamic State in 2015 – there are still a number of those being held in Syrian camps who support the extremist group.

“There is a fanboy mentality within the Islamic state,” he told Kurdistan 24.

He claimed that 99 percent of the women were not actively involved in Islamic State activities. However, he said, support for its ideology was still common. 

Some of the Dutch women say they pose no threat, and that they were merely housewives afterr traveling to Iraq or Syria. 

“I think many people in the Netherlands have a negative image about who we are. We the sisters from Holland don’t want to kill people, that’s not the reason we came [here],” a 30-year-old female Dutch citizen in Syria named Umm Abdurahman said. 

She stated that she was in no way planning to carry out attacks in the Netherlands if repatriated.

“I want to [take] a pastry course,” she said. “For four years I was baking cakes [in Syria], and want to continue doing this in the Netherlands.”

Editing by John J. Catherine