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France returns 40 children, 15 women from Syria - foreign ministry
France says it has carried out a new operation to return French nationals, 40 children and 15 women, from Kurdish-run camps in northeastern Syria.
"The minors were handed over to the child care services and will be subject to medical and social follow-up," the ministry said on Thursday (Oct 20), while the women would be transferred to the judicial authorities.
In September, The European Court of Human Rights ruled that France must re-examine repatriation requests from two French women who travelled to Syria with their partners to join Islamic State, and the children they gave birth to there.
On October 5, seven children and four women from al-Roj camp in North East Syria were repatriated to Germany, in a move welcomed by Save the Children.
The child rights agency is calling on other states to take similar urgent action, as some 11,000 foreign children and women remain in Roj and Al-Hol camps, where the risks to children have only become greater due to an outbreak of cholera and reports of increasing violence.
The Australian government is in the process of bringing 16 women - who are family members of Islamic State members - home to Australia after almost four years.
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Dozens of children will also be evacuated from the al-Roj detention camp as part of the rescue mission.
Al- Roj is a formal internally displaced person (IDP) camp in Al-Hasakeh governorate.
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