Germany and Finland repatriates their citizens from Syria

Germany and Finland have repatriated 23 of their nationals, five women and 18 children, from confinement camps in northeastern Syria. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of both nations said on Sunday that the repatriation was organized in cooperation and has recovered children and their mothers, were under investigation for allegedly belonging to the Islamic State (IS) groups.

"I am very relieved that we were able to repatriate another 12 children and three mothers from camps in northeastern Syria yesterday," siad German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas in a press statement.

"The repatriation was based on humanitarian grounds and involved (among others) orphans and sick children – cases in which a repatriation was deemed particularly necessary and urgent." the statement added

According to Finland Ministry, it has deported six Finnish children and two mothers from north-east Syria and are said to be in the care of Finnish authorities.

In a statement the minstry said that "Under the constitution, Finnish public authorities are obligated to safeguard the basic rights of the Finnish children interned in the camps insofar as this is possible," 

"The basic rights of the children interned in the al-Hol camps can be safeguarded only by repatriating them to Finland". the statement added

According to Der Spiegel, a German media, the German Foreign Office (AA) has secured the three ex IS supporters and 12 children from Al-Roj prison, and that the three repatriated German women supposedly face terror charges in Germany.

Al-Hol and al-Roj are refugee camps in Al-Hasakeh governorate, in the northeastern corner of Syria, which holds individuals displaced from the ISIS. Al-Hol is said to be controlled by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

SDF has reportedly asked countries to take their interned citizens as they do not have enough resources to keep IS prisoners and their families, specifically during the pandemic. Few countries such as the United States, France, Germany, Britain and Finland have repatriated some of their citizens.