UN: 55,000 linked to ISIS in Syria, Iraq should be tried or freed
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Some 55,000 former Islamic State fighters, including foreigners, and their families detained in Syria and Iraq should face fair prosecution or be freed, said UN Human Rights Chief Michelle Bachelet on Monday.
The UN official explained that countries “must assume responsibility for their nationals” and should not avoid giving citizenship to Islamic State members’ children, who have “already suffered so much,” Bachelet told the UN Human Rights Council as it opened a three-week session in Geneva, as quoted by Reuters.
Her comment comes as the Iraqi judiciary continues to detain thousands of alleged Islamic State members, including foreign fighters. Thus far, Iraqi courts have issued life sentence to over a hundred of members of the jihadist organization or to death.
In May, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) warned that an estimated 45,000 displaced children in camps are missing documentation and may face total exclusion from Iraqi society, be barred from attending school, denied access to healthcare, and deprived of their most basic rights.
“We face a possible human time-bomb. Allowing these children to have an education, healthcare, simply the right to exist, is key to ensuring a sustainable future for them and for the country,” Jan Egeland, the NRC’s Secretary General, had said.
“A society cannot be at peace if it allows a generation of stateless children in its midst.”
The probability of children from families accused of Islamic State affiliation obtaining civil documentation is nearly impossible, resulting in the collective punishment of thousands of innocent children.
“Children are not responsible for crimes committed by their relatives, yet many are denied their basic rights as Iraqi citizens,” Egeland explained.
Iraq’s judiciary has already decided to determine the fate of over 1,000 foreign ISIS children in the country.
The so-called Islamic State emerged in Iraq in June 2014, occupying Mosul, the second-largest city in the country, and soon expanded to other Iraqi provinces, including Nineveh, Salahuddin, Anbar, and Diyala.
Iraq declared a military victory over the extremist group in December 2017, but the Islamic State continues to launch insurgency attacks, ambushes, and kidnappings across the country.
Editing by Nadia Riva
