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People walk at the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp, northeastern Syria on March 3, 2021. Photo: Delil Souleiman / AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A top appeal court in the Netherlands ruled on Tuesday against bringing an ISIS-linked Dutch national home from al-Hol camp, citing security concerns over repatriations.
The Hague Court of Appeal said it backs the judgement made in October 2020 for the woman, who holds both Dutch and Moroccan nationality and has both psychiatric and physical problems.
"It is clear to the court that [appellant] 's interest in repatriation is very important," the court said in a statement.
"Moreover, the court considers it plausible that the situation for [appellant] is even more difficult under the influence of her psychiatric and physical problems... from the WhatsApp messages she submitted, the image emerges of a confused woman who also has a physical disability and is therefore dependent on the certainly not self-evident willingness of other camp inmates to take her fate and provide her elementary care."
However, the appeal court agreed with the preliminary relief judge's claim that her situation was outweighed by national interests. The relief judge ruled that "although the interests on the part of [appellant] are very important, the interests on the side of the State are so important that the balancing of interests should be in the advantage of the State."
The Netherlands has resisted repatriating its nationals because of concerns over the security of both people who would be involved in the repatriation in "dangerous" northern Syria and the Netherlands as a whole.
The appeal court "is of the opinion that the State must have the freedom to decide on a case-by-case basis and on a “day-to-day” basis whether or not to deploy its officials in this way. In doing so, the State may always put the safety of the officials and other parties involved who would play a role in a possible repatriation of [appellant], which may mean that the State will only consider such a deployment if it is convinced that such a deployment can take place in a responsible manner for these parties."
There remain currently 110 Dutch adults in Syria who travelled to the country with "jihadist intentions" – 40 of them in camps and prisons in northeast Syria, according to data the Dutch interior ministry published on March 1.
The United Nations and human rights organisations have condemned governments for failing to repatriate the 43,000 foreign nationals "unlawfully held" in northeast Syria.
“Men, women, and children from around the world are entering a third year of unlawful detention in life-threatening conditions in northeast Syria while their governments look the other way,” said Letta Tayler, associate crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch. “Governments should be helping to fairly prosecute detainees suspected of serious crimes and free everyone else, not helping to create another Guantanamo.”
News of the decision was met with disappointment by organisations that fight for the repatriation of the tens of thousands of foreign nationals from detention facilities in northeast Syria.
"We are deeply disappointed by today´s judgement by The Hague Court of Appeal in regard to the repatriation of a Dutch national... We join the countless calls from governments (ex. USA & AANES) and INGOs (ex. HRW) to repatriate all foreign nationals in NE Syria," Repatriate the Children USA said after news of the decision.
Tuesday's decision could deal a morale blow to lawyers elsewhere taking to issue of repatriations of northeast Syria detainees to some of the world's most senior judicial officials.
French lawyers announced on Tuesday that they had sent a statement to the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, denouncing the continuing arbitrary detention women and children.
"The choice of the President to refused to bring an end to the arbitrary detention and imprisonment of these women and their children leads Rojava officials into rendering themselves the perpetrators of war crimes," a statement from the lawyers read.
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