These grandparents, members of the United Families collective, went to the Roj camp last February and August, where at least 120 French children and 50 women are being held, according to them.
They testified on Wednesday, under cover of anonymity, at a press conference organized in Paris in the office of their lawyers. Before the trip, Patricia (name changed), had not seen her daughter, “who left in 2015 for Syria”, for nine years. “When I took her in my arms, she was so thin, I could feel her shoulder blades.”
For two days, she also saw for the first time her grandchildren, aged six and seven, who were born there. “In winter, they sleep wrapped in scarves, hats and mittens.” In summer, the heat crushes them. “How can they survive such living conditions?”
Drawing on their imagination or memories, no doubt. Their rooms are covered with drawings of Eiffel Towers or “houses with open hands.” “In the hand, there is a plane. They only want one thing: to leave,” Patricia translates.
Other young people are looking ahead and wondering, their grandparents said. If they return, what will happen to their mother? Where do their uncles and aunts live in France? Where will they go to school? “Am I going to go to a class of little ones if I don’t have the level?” his grandson worriedly asked Marc (name changed). “It’s practically impossible for me to describe what overwhelms us when we enter the camp, a crowd of children appears” and among them, “we recognized them: our grandchildren,” Marc confided.
“The shame of France”
Five years after the fall of the Islamic State group’s “caliphate”, tens of thousands of women and children close to jihadists are being held by US-allied Syrian Kurdish forces in violent camps.
France stopped collective repatriations in the summer of 2023 after carrying out four operations in one year. Currently, “France makes any repatriation operation conditional on an explicit request from women”, but the latter “cannot” formulate it, explained lawyer Marie Dosé.
Some are “too radicalized,” others fear reprisals in the camps, many of them fear being separated from their children upon arriving in France. “This country must protect children from the inability of mothers to make the right decision,” the lawyer insisted.
“These children are victims, not executioners. This absurd situation will be an indelible stain on France. It is France’s shame. The time limit has arrived,” castigated Patrick Baudouin, president of the Human Rights League.
The collective also visited the Orkesh and Houri centers, as well as the Alaya prison to meet five young adults and a French minor who are incarcerated there. “Their state of health is catastrophic, repatriating them is a matter of life or death,” warned Me Dosé.
These young people had already filed requests for repatriation, saying they were ready to explain themselves to the French courts. “I never received a response” from the French authorities, “which is an implicit refusal,” the lawyer said indignantly. “We don’t want repatriation to let them loose in the wild. These young people are destined to be prosecuted,” recalled Julie Couturier, president of the National Council of Bars.
