<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/sep/26/australian-women-and-children-syrian-detention-camp-roj-federal-court>
"Thirty-one Australian women and children forcibly held for four years in a
Syrian detention camp have told the federal government to prove it cannot bring
them home, or “bring their bodies to the court” in Australia.
In filings before the federal court, Save the Children Australia – representing
11 Australian women and their 20 children – has argued the Australians are
being unlawfully detained and their government has the power, and an
obligation, to remove them and repatriate them to Australia.
The Australians are the wives, widows and children of slain or jailed Islamic
State fighters: most have been held in the squalid Roj detention camp in
north-east Syria for four years. None have been charged with a crime or
currently faces a warrant for arrest. Several of the children were born in the
camp and know no life outside it. Conditions are “dire”, the Red Cross says,
illness and malnutrition is rife and the security situation “extremely
volatile”.
The Australians are physically held by the Autonomous Administration of North
and East Syria (AANES) and its military wing, the Syrian Democratic Forces.
But court submissions from Save the Children state that Australia is a member
of the coalition that “specifically supports the AANES to maintain the
detention of persons including the women and children”.
The submissions argue 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.
There is no safety issue in travelling to the camps: journalists, family
members and NGO workers have travelled in and out frequently."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
