Trial or release: UN calls for end to crisis of ISIS detainees

Shaima Hafezy

The United Nations believes that states have only two options to deal with their citizens who joined the ranks of ISIS in Syria and Iraq and who are currently detained in camps by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF): trial or release. Their families cannot be held indefinitely.

Some 55,000 suspected ISIS fighters have been arrested and detained since the organization was toppled and lost control of its territory.

“It must be clear that all individuals suspected of committing crimes – whatever their country of origin and whatever the nature of the crime – must face investigation and prosecution, with due process guarantees,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet.

“The continued detention of individuals who are not suspected of committing crimes, in the absence of legal basis and regular independent judicial review, is unacceptable,” she added.

Bachelet highlighted the issue of detainees in her remarks during a session of the Human Rights Council, saying it had not received the attention it deserved. She noted, for example, that some 11,000 people, believed to be the wives and children of foreign ISIS fighters, are living in Al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria in what she described as “substandard conditions.”

“Foreign family members must be repatriated unless they are tried for crimes in accordance with international standards,” Bachelet said.

Bachelet also criticized countries revoking citizenship from suspects, such as Britain, which stripped a woman named Shamima Begum of her nationality after she demanded to return to her country.

“Despite the challenges facing countries, making people stateless is never an acceptable option,” Bachelet said.

In particular, she criticized the statelessness of children, saying that “statelessness of children who have already suffered so much is an act of irresponsible cruelty.”

However, other countries have adopted different approaches. So far, the United States has repatriated three women and 10 children from northern Syria, while Australia has repatriated eight children. Other countries have also indicated their readiness to accept ISIS returnees.