ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria confirmed on Friday that it had handed over a 29-year old Norwegian woman and her two children to Norway.
Until Tuesday, the three had been living at the now-infamous al-Hol Camp, where the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) hold thousands of women accused of affiliation to the Islamic State, plus their children.
“We spoke about various important political matters with respect to the situation in the region, and the state of Norway appreciates the efforts made by the local authorities in north and east Syria to shoulder the burdens of this huge number of IDPs taking shelter in the camps, and all the sacrifices that the people in northern and eastern Syria have made,” said the Deputy Director of the Afghanistan and South Asia Division of the Norwegian Foreign Ministry in a press conference in the northeastern Syrian city of Qamishli (Qamishlo).
They were received by the co-chair of the Foreign Relations Department, Abdulkarim Omar, and deputy co-chairs Abir Ilya and Fener Al-Kaeet, as well as Abdul Rahman Salman and Simaf Yusef, members of the Administrative Board of the Foreign Relations Department.
A transport document was signed by both parties confirming that the woman and her children, aged five and three, stating that they were all in good health and have not been exposed to any “moral or physical pressure” while they were in the custody of the Autonomous Administration.
The family was then brought over Syria’s eastern border to the Kurdistan Region’s capital of Erbil and, from there, flown back to Norway.
The Norwegian Foreign Ministry official also expressed his gratitude to the Autonomous Administration and the SDF for their “efforts and sacrifices to eliminate” the Islamic State.
Local Kurdish-led authorities in northern Syria have urged foreign states to take back female nationals suspected of membership to the Islamic State and their children.
The US has also called on Western countries to resettle their citizens. So far, a majority of them have not responded to the calls, often due to vocal opposition of officials and the general population.
Many nations in the European Union or abroad fear that, due to a lack of evidence of criminal wrongdoing, Islamic State supporters could be quickly released once they appear in court after returning home and would pose a threat to public safety.
Also in Norway, the repatriation could lead to a political crisis due to domestic opposition.
The anti-immigration Progress Party, a government coalition partner to conservatives, has criticized the decision by Prime Minister Erna Solberg to receive the woman and children, reported Norwegian news website The Local.
Some countries have repatriated orphans of Islamic State-affiliated parents to their countries based on humanitarian grounds.
On December 22, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) also reported that two Finish orphans were handed over to the Finish authorities by the Kurdish-led authorities. Also on October 2, two children of Austrian origin were handed back to representatives of Austria’s Foreign Ministry
According to Human Rights Watch, the local authorities hold roughly 11,000 foreign females charged with Islamic State affiliation and their children in various displacement camps in northern Syria.
Editing by John J. Catherine