France repatriates 40 children and 15 women from camps in northeast Syria

Oct. 20 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The French government has repatriated this Thursday from camps for displaced people in northern Syria to 40 children and 15 women, who have been taken into custody upon arrival in France by order of the Antiterrorist Prosecutor’s Office, which is examining the possible risks of these transfers.

The French Foreign Ministry has confirmed the repatriations, noting that adults have been left at the mercy “of the competent judicial authorities.” Minors, for their part, remain in charge of social services.

“France thanks the local authorities in northeast Syria for their cooperation, which has made this operation possible,” reads a statement from the Ministry.

For its part, the Prosecutor’s Office has confirmed that among the women, between 19 and 24 years old, twelve have remained in preventive detention in compliance with as many pending search warrants. Arrest warrants were weighed on three of them and “they will appear today before the investigating judge,” reports Franceinfo.

The French authorities carry out this type of operation from time to time, accelerated after the European Court of Human Rights urged to review the demands of the children and women who are still in displaced persons camps today. At the beginning of the month, the Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, put the number of minors repatriated from the camps at 77.