Judge Orders Netherlands to Repatriate 56 Children of ISIS as Turkey Begins Deporting ISIS Members throughout Europe
On November 11, a court in The Hague ruled that the Dutch state must actively help repatriate 56 children of mothers who joined the Islamic State of Iraq (ISIS), but it does not have the same obligation to their mothers.[1] The children range from ages of two weeks old to 12 years old and are currently living in poor conditions in camps in northern Syria. The decision came in a case filed by five lawyers on behalf of 23 mothers and their children in hopes of returning to their homes in the Netherlands. All of the women in the case are Dutch citizens who ventured to Iraq and Syria to support the Islamic State. The Netherlands estimates there are 15 men, 35 women, and 90 children with Dutch nationality in refugee camps in Syria and Iraq.[2]