France’s position will not change. During an interview on Monday February 14 on the France 5 channel, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, ruled out any repatriation of adult French jihadists detained today in northeastern Syria.
Regarding minors, the head of diplomacy pursues the policy on a case-by-case basis: “For the children we will continue, for the unaccompanied minors, the orphans, for those whose mother accepts the departure (…) and each time carrying out extremely dangerous operations”declared Jean-Yves Le Drian on the France 5 channel, recalling that the area is “always at war”.
Only 35 children brought back to Paris
So far, 35 children, mostly orphans, have been repatriated by Paris. About 80 French women, who had joined the Islamic State organization, and 200 children are detained in Kurdish camps in northeast Syria.
The famous French neuropsychiatrist, Boris Cyrulnik, urged President Emmanuel Macron in January to bring them back to France, along with their mothers, believing that they constitute on the spot “a threat to our security”. Lawyers, parliamentarians, NGOs and even the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights regularly ask the French authorities to repatriate them.
France maintains a case-by-case return policy for these children and considers that adults should be tried on the spot. “There should be when the situation is stabilized in Syria, which is not the case, a jurisdiction that is identified to ensure this, otherwise there is no way out”hammered Jean-Yves Le Drian.
