Save the Children applauds Spanish repatriation of ISIS families from Syria

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Save the Children on Wednesday applauded a decision by Spain to bring back home 13 children and two women from ‘the unsafe, unsanitary Roj camp in North- East Syria.’

“Save the Children applauded the move – as this is the first time the Spanish government has repatriated nationals from either the Roj or Al Hol camps – but urged Spain to urgently bring home the four children and one woman still left in the camp,” Save the Children said in a statement. 

Other states must also follow suit and repatriate thousands of children still stuck there, the child rights organization added. 

"This will be such a relief and marks a very positive start to the year for these children. They now get to leave the camps behind and look forward to a better future. The remaining 7,000 children still lingering in the camps deserve the same. Efforts must be stepped up to urgently repatriate each and every one of them," Matt Sugrue, Director of Programme Operations for Save the Children in Syria, said in the statement.

Save the Children in Syria also said that conditions in the al-Roj and al-Hol camps in northern Syria continue to be dire, with winter seeing children forced to sleep in tents in zero-degree temperatures.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the US-led coalition have repeatedly called on foreign countries to repatriate their country nationals from northeast Syria. 

A number of foreign countries have repatriated ISIS families due to legal pressures or policy changes.

Last year, a record number of 517 children and women were repatriated from the Al Hol and Roj camps by 12 countries, representing a 60% increase compared to 2021 and 84% increase from 2020, Save the Children also said.