Denmark to repatriate children of Islamic State from north-eastern Syria

The Foreign Minister of Denmark said his country was planning to repatriate five children of the Islamic State Organization (ISIS) members from northeast Syria without their mothers.

The authorities in Denmark are planning to bring five children of ISIS members from the Roj Camp south of Derik, northeast Syria, but their mothers will be left behind, Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said.

For political reasons, most Danish politicians take a hardline stance on Danish ISIS members and their families to appear “tough on terrorism.”

“The risk of indoctrination and influence generally increases the longer the children stay in a radicalized environment, including in the camps in north-eastern Syria,” a 2020 report by the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) said.

The decision was taken following a medical report by a doctor and a psychiatrist revealing several malnourished children who required hospital attention.

The report has prompted the Socialist People’s Party and the Radical Left to pressure the government to bring the children to Denmark, who also called for the mothers to join their children.

However, due to the mothers’ involvement with ISIS, the ruling Social Democrats have decided to block them from returning since according to the country’s laws they would be prosecuted and imprisoned.

The Foreign Minister appealed to the “foreign combattant women” (mothers) and their lawyers to help the five children in order to return to Denmark to “get the treatment they need.”

In October 2021, Denmark repatriated 17 persons, including 14 children and three women.

Source: Syrian Observer