There are 11 women and 20 children who have been trapped in squalid camps of Al-Hol and Al-Roj, in the Syrian desert for over 4 years and are experiencing horrific living and climatic conditions.  None of those women have been charged with a crime or currently face a warrant for arrest.  These women and children are living in situations of extreme vulnerability and desperately dangerous limbo caused by political inaction.  The Australian Government has said it is committed to repatriating all of the Australians it can safely evacuate, yet it has not given any indication when another operation might be launched or even if their repatriation is being contemplated.

Australia has undertaken two repatriation missions from the camps in north-east Syria.  In 2019, eight orphaned children, including a pregnant teenager, were returned to New South Wales from the camps.  In October 2022, four women and 13 children were repatriated from the same camp, also to NSW.  Journalists, some family members and NGO workers have travelled in and out of those camps frequently without any safety issues being encountered.

The European Court of Human Rights (which adds to long standing calls from United Nationals human rights bodies, the Autonomous Administration of North East Syria (AANES) and the United States government) had called on France to “re-examine” its refusal to repatriate women from Syria.  

As a result, earlier this year, the following successful repatriations occurred from the said camps - France (35 children, 16 women); Germany (27 children, 10 mothers; Sweden (four children, two mothers) and the Netherlands (11 children, five mothers).  That decision highlights the need for Australia to do the same and repatriate its citizens.

The Red Cross says conditions are dire in the camps - illness and malnutrition are rife and the security situation “extremely volatile”.

Save the Children Chief Executive, Mat Tinkler, who visited the camps earlier this year, has described the camps as “one of the worst places in the world to be a child…. These children are just hanging on.  They’re suffering really poor nutrition, they’ve got dental decay, they’ve got traumatic injuries suffered from the conflict, their mental health is in a really poor state… They do not deserve to be condemned to a life of suffering, or worse, death”.  He stated:

“I anticipated seeing difficult conditions in the camps, but nothing could prepare me for seeing first-hand the impact of prolonged exposure to these conditions and the untreated shrapnel injuries and illnesses many of the Australian children are enduring.

“They have already suffered immensely – many have experienced violence, bombardment and lost loved loves. Their education is being severely disrupted, their health is deteriorating without access to adequate medical care, and they are stuck in an endless limbo….

“There’s no practical or legal barrier to urgent repatriation. Other countries have proved it is possible to safely return children and their mothers, and we’ve shown it’s possible to access these camps easily.” 

The time for Australia to act is now.”

The UN special rapporteur in a press conference refused to rule out the continued indefinite detention and refusal to repatriate as a crime against humanity.  Fionnuala Ni Aolain, UN Special Rapporteur has stated that “This is a clear violation of international human rights law and incompatible with the rights of the child”.

The Australian families of those detainees acknowledge and are grateful to the Australian Government for providing humanitarian aid to those women and children but the aid is not reaching them. 

AANES has expressly asked coalition countries, including Australia, to repatriate their citizens, and that if Australia was to request that repatriation, it would be permitted.  Both AANES and the US Government have offered their support to extract these women and children.

The Australian Government has warned its citizens that it expects the fighting in the Middle East to escalate to the point where it is urging any Australians in the regions to evacuate sooner than later as it cannot guarantee being able to assist them if they remain and fighting escalates.  We note that the fighting is not restricted to Gaza and there is also bombing taking place in Syria and Lebanon.  We point out that these women and children are sitting targets in the Syrian desert.

Journalists, some family members and NGO workers have travelled in and out of those camps frequently without, to date, any safety issues being encountered.

The Australian families of those detainees are seeking the same respect, kindness and generosity shown by the Australian Government to Australians, and non-Australians alike, by airlifting them to safety from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  Some of the relatives in Australia have since died without seeing their loved ones back on Australian soil.  Others are undertaking urgent medical attention and their mental health is not assisting in their rehabilitation because of their concern that they may never see their daughters again or their grandchildren for the first time.  We are asking the Australian Government to give this matter its urgent attention for humanitarian reasons.