Finland has violated the rights of Finnish children, who spent years risking their lives in the Al-Hol camp in Syria with families of suspected jihadists, the Children’s Rights Committee of the UN.
“Finland has the responsibility and the power to protect Finnish children in Syrian camps from imminent risk to their lives by ensuring their repatriation“, Estimated the Committee in a press release. In a previous similar decision in February, the Committee found that France had violated the rights of French children held in camps in Syria by failing to repatriate them.
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The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child is made up of 18 independent experts responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by its States Parties. Its positions or recommendations are not binding but have weight on the international scene. “Prolonged detention of child victims of dangerous living conditions amounts to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment“, say the experts in their press release.
The Committee was tasked with examining a complaint concerning six Finnish children currently being held in the Al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria. Since the families submitted this request in 2019, three of these children have been able to leave the camp on their own initiative with their mother and have returned to Finland.
“The three remaining child victims, currently between the ages of five and six, remain held in closed camps in a location resembling a war zone“, according to the Committee. The families’ request mentioned 33 other Finnish children held in this camp without access to legal assistance.
Dilapidated and overcrowded, the Al-Hol camp, located less than ten kilometers from the Iraqi border and the main camp in the area, still houses according to the UN around 56,000 people, including 10,000 foreigners, including women and children. jihadists as well as displaced Syrians and Iraqi refugees. Some of them continue to maintain links with the jihadist group Islamic State.
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Repeated calls for Western countries to repatriate their nationals have largely gone unheeded. “The situation for children in the camps has been widely described as inhumane, with a lack of basic necessities including water, food and health care, and imminent risk of death.warned Committee expert Ann Skelton.
Two children die each week on average in Al-Hol due to the terrible living conditions, the NGO Save the Children estimated in a report last year. The UN has reported more than 100 killings in 18 months at this camp.
For the Committee, Finland has not paid the necessary attention to the interests of children when assessing requests for the repatriation of their relatives. “We call on Finland to take immediate and decisive action to preserve the lives of these children and bring them home to their families.added Ms. Skelton.