The supreme formation of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) examines this Wednesday the requests of two couples who demand from France the repatriation of their daughters, companions of jihadists, and their grandchildren, detained by the forces Kurds in Syria. The two young women had left France in 2014 and 2015 respectively, to join Syria, where they gave birth to several children. Now aged 30 and 32, they have been held with them since early 2019 in the Al-Hol and Roj camps, guarded by Kurdish forces, in northeastern Syria.
“We are waiting for the Court to condemn France for violation of its obligations, because we consider that France exposes these children and their mothers to inhuman and degrading treatment” by not proceeding to their repatriation, declared Marie Dosé and Laurent Pettiti, lawyers for both families, shortly before the hearing. According to them, “these children are victims of war, and their mothers must answer for their acts in front of the only country where they are judged: France”.
Violation of the right to family life
The lawyers also find Paris responsible for a violation of the right to family life, “insofar as these women and their children do not have access to their parents and grandparents”. Finally, they underline that the Convention prohibits a State from preventing the return to its territory of its nationals. The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs claims that it does not exercise control over French nationals in Syria, nor over the camps where these women are detained, and therefore cannot be held responsible for any human rights violations. . It also ensures that there is no legal basis for a positive repatriation obligation.
Seized, the administrative judge then the Council of State had declared themselves incompetent, considering that the implementation of a repatriation operation on a foreign territory was not their responsibility but depended “on the conduct of international relations of France “. It is therefore now up to the ECHR to decide, all remedies having been exhausted in France. Sign of the importance of the subject, the case, considered as a priority, will be examined by the Grand Chamber of the court, its supreme formation composed of 17 judges and led by Robert Spano, president of this European court.
“Total hypocrisy”
The magistrates will be interested in particular in the “extraterritorial consequences of the decisions or omissions” of the French State. They will also study the conditions under which the government carried out the repatriation of French children in March and June 2019. “France selects the children it repatriates”, were indignant Marie Dosé and Laurent Pettiti. “There are around 200 children left in the Roj camp, France has repatriated 35 of them, which it has chosen. And she would not exercise power over these camps? Let’s be serious, this is total hypocrisy. “
The two lawyers also recalled that “the Kurdish authorities urge the States to repatriate their nationals”, and that several Western countries, like Germany or Finland, have carried out repatriations. Faced with a case which should set a precedent, seven member states of the Council of Europe have asked to intervene in the procedure, as have several NGOs and United Nations rapporteurs. The decision, not subject to appeal, will be rendered in several months.