Dutch must help to return IS children

THE HAGUE: The Netherlands must "actively" help repatriate children of women who joined the Islamic State group in Syria but the mothers themselves need not be taken back, a Dutch court ruled on Monday.

The ruling, by a judge at The Hague’s district court, comes after lawyers representing 23 Jihadist women launched a lawsuit last week demanding the Netherlands return them and their 56 children from detention camps in northern Syria.

The Dutch state "must actively commit itself to repatriate the children", judge Hans Vetter said in his ruling. "But it also means that the state cannot be forced to do something that’s impossible to do," he added.

At the same time "the state has to take measures, as far as possible, to protect these Dutch children, even if these children find themselves in another country," he said. The government should use all options available, including seeking the help of the Americans, the judge added. Children in camps such as Al-Hol in northeastern Syria were at risk of being killed by shelling of the camps, or being subjected to sexual abuse, and were already suffering from the lack of sanitation, medical care and adequate food, the judge said.