Switzerland urged to repatriate two girls from Syria camp - U.N. experts

"The two fathers of the girls, who both live in Geneva, have asked the Swiss Government to take the necessary steps to repatriate their daughters, who were ostensibly taken by their mother on a vacation in August 2016 but ended up in Syria," the independent U.N. experts said in a statement. "The repatriation of these two children should not be further delayed," they said, adding that the half-sisters were believed to be held at al-Roj. The 14-year-old has anaemia and is believed to have suffered a severe shrapnel wound to her leg, requiring three operations, they said.

United Nations human rights experts urged Switzerland on Thursday to repatriate two Geneva sisters from a squalid camp in north-eastern Syria five years after the girls were allegedly abducted by their mother who joined Islamic State (IS). More than 60,000 people, two-thirds of them children, are held in camps for families associated with IS fighters, which the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross described after a visit in March as a "tragedy in plain sight".

The al-Hol and al-Roj camps, run by Syrian Kurdish forces, hold nationals from some 60 countries who fled IS's final enclaves. "The two fathers of the girls, who both live in Geneva, have asked the Swiss Government to take the necessary steps to repatriate their daughters, who were ostensibly taken by their mother on a vacation in August 2016 but ended up in Syria," the independent U.N. experts said in a statement.

"The repatriation of these two children should not be further delayed," they said, adding that the half-sisters were believed to be held at al-Roj. The 14-year-old has anaemia and is believed to have suffered a severe shrapnel wound to her leg, requiring three operations, they said. The eight-year-old was thought to be in poor health. The Swiss foreign ministry had no immediate reaction to a Reuters request for comment. The Swiss federal government, in a 2019 statement regarding "travellers motivated by terrorism", said its first goal was protecting the country and that it would examine repatriation of Swiss minors on a case-by-case basis, but not intervene actively for adults.

The fathers, through their lawyers, have written to Swiss parliamentarians seeking support for the girls' repatriation. The lawyer's March 21 letter, seen by Reuters, refers to decisions by Swiss officials to strip the mother of her Swiss nationality, while also opening a criminal procedure against her for kidnapping and belonging to a criminal organisation.

"Children should not have to bear the terrible burden of simply being born to individuals allegedly linked or associated with designated terrorist groups," the U.N. experts said.