Eleven Swedish nationals were repatriated from northeastern Syria in response to UN calls urging Western countries and governments to take back their citizens who have been living for years in the camps of ISIS families and fighters.
The Swedish Ambassador, Fredrik Floren, received three women and eight children living in al-Roj camp in the countryside of Hasakah Governorate.
They were sent to Kurdistan to be deported to Sweden, in the fourth extradition of foreign nationals this month after UK, Germany, Denmark, and Ukraine.
The British Special Envoy to Syria, Jonathan Hargreaves, met last Tuesday with the head of Rojava’s foreign relations department, Abdulkarim Omar, in Qamishli.
He received three children who had been living in Kurdish-controlled camps in northeast Syria.
Last month, the UN launched a humanitarian appeal to Western and Arab countries and governments to address the situation of thousands of foreign children and families in detention centers and camps.
“At least 42,000 foreign women and children, most under the age of 12, currently remain in squalid and overcrowded conditions inside camps in northeast Syria,” read its statement.
The Ukrainian government received several women and children from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the fourth evacuation operation of its citizens.
So far, Ukraine has repatriated 124 families who were living in al-Hol and al-Roj camps, and Kiev intends to bring back the remaining 11 families.
The German government brought back 23 children and eight women earlier this month, while Denmark received 14 children and three women.
Palestine also retrieved two children from Palestinian fathers who were members of the terrorist organization, becoming the third Arab country to bring back its nationals.
In July, a Moroccan family managed to retrieve two children of their detained son in Syria in al-Hol camp after official approval from Moroccan King Mohammed VI.
Sudan also retrieved a woman and several orphaned children during the same year.
In July, the Autonomous Administration handed over to a Russian delegation 20 children of ISIS parents.
Russia is among the first foreign countries to repatriate its citizens from Syria and has received more than 200 children and women to date.
Earlier this year, the French government brought back seven children of ISIS families, bringing the total of nationals returned to their country from Syria since the elimination of ISIS to 35 children.
Between March and June of 2019, 315 foreign women and their children were returned from the camps in Syria to their countries of origin.
Last year, 239 children and 34 women were repatriated, while this year, 282 women and their children were deported, and many are still waiting to be evacuated.
