8 more Finnish people return from al-Hol camp

Six Finnish children and two adult mothers, who had escaped from the al-Hol refugee camp in Syria arrived in Finland on Sunday, said a government press release.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs organised the repatriation in cooperation with German authorities. In the same connection, Germany repatriated German children and their mothers.

Under section 22 of the Constitution of Finland, Finnish public authorities are obligated to safeguard the basic rights of the Finnish children interned in the camps insofar as this is possible. The basic rights of the children interned in the al-Hol camps can be safeguarded only by repatriating them to Finland.

The mothers of the children were repatriated together with the children, said the press release issued by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, adding that it is not possible to repatriate only the children and in all actions, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.

Earlier, on August 2, a mother together with her children aged under 10 have, who had escaped from the al-Hol refugee camp in Syria arrived in Finland from Turkey.

Before that, three families also arrived on May 31.

About 15 Finnish children and 10 mothers are still interned in the camps in north-east Syria.

Altogether, more than six thousand foreign children and approximately three thousand foreign mothers, of whom approximately 600 children and 300 women are EU citizens, are still in the camps.

About half of the children are younger than five years old.

The camps in north-east Syria constitute a long-term security risk. The longer the children remain in the camps, without protection and education, the harder it will be to counter radical extremism, the press release added.

The government of Finland on 19 December 2019 issued a resolution on the repatriation of Finnish children from the al-Hol camp.