3 more Finns return from Syria´s camp

Two Finnish children and their mother were repatriated from Roj refugee camp in northeast Syria on Friday, said the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in a press release.

The children are under school age. They are now in the care of competent Finnish authorities.

Finnish authorities have a constitutional obligation to safeguard the fundamental rights of the Finnish children held in the camps as far as possible. The only way to safeguard the fundamental rights of children held in northeast Syria is to bring them to Finland.

The mother of the two children was also repatriated. It was not possible to repatriate only the children. In all official activities, priority has been given to the best interests of the child.

Earlier, several Finnish children and their mothers, who had escaped from the al-Hol refugee camp in Syria arrived in Finland last year.

About a dozen Finnish children and a few mothers remain detained in the camps in Syria.

About 900 EU citizens – 600 children and 300 women – are still in the camps. Nearly 62,000 people are currently kept in the camps. Out of them about 59,000 are in Al-Hol camp and about 2,700 in Roj camp.

The camps in northeast Syria continue to constitute a serious, long-term security risk. The longer the children are kept in the camps without protection and education, the harder it will be to fight violent extremism and radicalization, said the ministry in the press release.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs intends to repatriate the Finnish children still detained in the camps as soon as possible.