MADRID, 6 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The United States urges Spain to “quickly” repatriate from northeast Syria the women and minors linked to the Islamic State of Spanish nationality who remain in the camps for displaced persons and offers to help the Government in this process, a spokesman for the State Department to Europa Press.
“Repatriation is the only lasting solution to the humanitarian and security situation in the Al Hol and Al Roj camps for displaced persons, in northeastern Syria,” said this spokesman, recalling that some 56,000 people live there, half under 12 years old.
Some 10,000 citizens from approximately 60 countries reside in these camps, managed by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance made up of Syrian Kurdish forces, among others, and Syrians. –18,000–, according to data from the State Department.
For this reason, the spokesman pointed out after being consulted by Europa Press on whether there has been any contact with the Government of Pedro Sánchez regarding an eventual repatriation of Spaniards, the United States “urges all governments to quickly repatriate their nationals from the northeast of Syria and is ready to help in this effort” given that “this security and humanitarian crisis is getting worse by the day.
In this sense, the source has specified that individually the Joe Biden Administration “offers assistance to countries willing to repatriate their citizens from northeast Syria”, thus implying that it would already be helping Western countries that in the recent weeks have repatriated women and children.
Diplomatic sources have indicated to Europa Press that an official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs visited the Spanish women and minors who are in Al Hol and Al Roj before the summer in order to meet with them and “establish the conditions to proceed with the repatriation, once the security conditions for it are fulfilled”.
The Government has not provided updated data on the number of Spaniards who would remain in these camps in Syria. The last official information came in September 2019, when the National High Court issued international arrest warrants against four women – three Spanish and one Moroccan – who were in Syria and who had expressed their willingness to return to Spain. These women had at that time 17 minors in their care.
In recent months, Western countries, including France or Germany, have intensified the repatriation of women and children in an effort to face the threat that their permanence could represent for the future given the presence of the Islamic State in them, where they continue to recruit new fighters.
In general, the women have been detained upon arrival in their countries of origin, as in most cases there were court cases pending against them for terrorism-related offences, as many voluntarily traveled to Syria to join the Islamic State.
For now, the Spanish Government has not indicated that it is going to proceed with the immediate repatriation of some of these women and children, although the visit by the Foreign Affairs official could be considered a first step in this regard, although the Executive does not confirm this end.
