Amal Dada and Kristof Vifik signing the repatriation papers of child of Danish ISIS member. PHOTO: Social media
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region- Denmark took back the child of an ISIS fighter on Sunday who had been injured, in an agreement signed between the Kurdish-led authority of Northern Syria and a Danish foreign ministry representative.
Kristof Vifik, Danish Director of Consular Affairs at the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs passed from the Simalka border crossing between Rojava and the Kurdistan Region to Northern Syria, accompanied by an ambulance, to evacuate a wounded Danish boy.
"I am here today with a small team in order to conduct a medical evacuation of a seriously wounded Danish boy," Vifik said in a press conference in which Rudaw was present.
Vifik said the boy was “in a stable condition".
"But he certainly needs more fundamental medical treatment," he added, but didn’t go into detail about the type of injury the child had.
Later that day, the boy was brought to the Kurdistan Region in an ambulance.
While in North east Syria, the Danish representative met with Amal Dada and Abdulkarim Omer, the co-chairs of the Department of Foreign Relations of the Self-Administration, and thanked them for their cooperation.
Dada and Vifiik signed the boy's repatriation papers and later held a press conference.
Dada told reporters they discussed the "challenges" the self-administration faces--including management of camps, the humanitarian situation, and participation in the political process.
"Of course the visit was positive, and we hope it paves the road for future visits and diplomatic, political cooperation between the two sides."
Thousands of wives and children of ISIS are in the overcrowded al-Hol camp, living in harsh conditions. The foreign children and women are cordoned off in a separate part of the camp that shelters around 73,000 people.
The camp, however, lacks adequate medical staff, making it difficult for children and women to receive healthcare. The women and children flocked out of ISIS's last bastion, Baghouz, in eastern Euphrates in Syria with the final push against the terrorist group's bastion.
The repatriation of Western foreign nationals who left to join ISIS has been controversial, with Western nations wary of taking on the legal challenges of trying to convict people for actions overseas.
Meanwhile, the repatriation of the children of the foreign nationals has been inconsistent.
The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria have also handed over children to France, the Netherlands, Norway, and Belgium earlier this month.
But France has said it would deal with the repatriation of children on a case-by-case basis, and refused to repatriate two infants from al-Hol earlier this month.
The children of foreign fighters must have their rights protected and be repatriated to their country of origin as soon as possible, UNICEF said in May.
UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore called them “among the world’s most vulnerable children”, and said that “the children must be treated primarily as victims, not perpetrators”, in a statement.
“These children are ‘doubly rejected’ – stigmatized by their communities and shunned by their governments. They face massive legal, logistical and political challenges in accessing basic services or returning to their countries of origin", said Fore.
UNICEF called on UN member states to give these children civil documentation and prevent them from becoming stateless.
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund, there are close to 29,000 foreign children in Syria alone – most of them under the age of 12.
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