The French government has recovered 15 IS women and 40 children from Kurdish refugee camps in northern Syria. The Foreign Ministry said the women had been handed over to the judiciary. The children receive medical and social help.

In a statement, the ministry thanked local authorities in northern Syria for their help in repatriating the women and children. Further details about the operation were not disclosed.

Last month, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that France must reconsider the repatriation of two French IS women. The French government has long hesitated to bring people back from Syria, fearing attacks by radical jihadists. Nevertheless, several IS women and their children are now back in France; the last return campaign took place in July.

Not undisputed

In northern Syria, many IS women are being held in Kurdish prison camps. Most of them are women who have traveled to the area in Syria and Iraq that was declared a caliphate by the Islamic State in 2014.

According to the AIVD, around 35 Dutch women are also imprisoned in the Syrian-Kurdish camps, along with 60 children. Living conditions in the camps are generally poor.

The return of IS women and their children is not without controversy. Many countries do not want to actively bring back the so-called “jihadi brides” but at the same time do not want to lose the right to prosecution.

NOSop3 made this video three years ago about Syrian repatriation:

In the Netherlands, the cabinet says that IS women should, in principle, be prosecuted in Syria itself. But “if impunity threatens,” a decision could be made to transfer them to the Netherlands for a trial, Justice Minister Yesilgöz wrote to the House of Representatives again yesterday. In other words, if the women don’t get back to the Netherlands in time, they can no longer be charged with involvement in the terrorist group IS.

For this reason, dozens of Dutch women and children have been brought back from the former IS territory in recent years. The rescue of a group of twelve IS women and their children is still on the list.

In May, the court ruled that they must return to the Netherlands to be prosecuted. This should have happened by September at the latest, but as far as is known, the women are still in Syria.