Sunday April 05, 2026

Minor Finn returns from Iraq after staying in al-Hol refugee camp

Published : 04 Apr 2026, 20:44

Updated : 04 Apr 2026, 22:36

DF Report

Two kids talk with each other as displaced people prepare to leave the al-Hol camp run by the Kurdish militias in the northeastern province of Hasakah, Syria, Nov. 16, 2020. File Photo: Xinhua.

The Finnish authorities repatriated a Finnish minor from Iraq to Finland on Friday, said the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in a press release on Saturday.

On 31 March, an Iraqi court decided to release a Finnish minor from Iraqi custody and transfer him to the Embassy of Finland in Baghdad for repatriation to Finland.

The boy had been taken to Syria in the mid-2010s. He was placed in the al-Hol refugee camp in February 2019.

In February 2026, he was transferred with some 5,700 male prisoners from northeast Syria to Baghdad, where the Embassy of Finland verified his identity. He has only Finnish citizenship.

The consular services of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs have operated in line with the obligations laid down in the Constitution of Finland and the Convention on the Rights of the Child and under the powers laid down in the Consular Services Act.

The decision to repatriate the minor is an official decision.

The Foreign Ministry’s consular services have handled the matter in close cooperation with the competent authorities.