Netherlands To Repatriate 40 Women, Children From Syrian Camps

Twelve women and 28 children will be repatriated to the Netherlands from detention camps in northern Syria, the Dutch government announced on Tuesday.

They will face charges on their return for joining the ISIS extremist group. The children will be taken into the care of the Dutch child protection services.

The move comes after a Dutch court in May recommended that the women be returned immediately to the Netherlands, or that a commitment to return then be made within four months.

“The cabinet is transferring twelve Dutch women suspected of terrorist offences and their 28 children to the Netherlands,” two government ministers said.

“The women will be arrested after arrival in the Netherlands and will be tried,” Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra and Justice Minister Dilan Yesilgoz-Zegerius said in a letter to parliament.

Some 300 Dutch citizens travelled to Syria during the height of the civil war, according to Dutch government figures.

About 120 remain – many in Kurdish-controlled camps and detention centres in northern Syria, or in Iraq and Turkey.