Australian children held in a Syrian detention camp for more than five years – some born in the camp and having never left it – are despairing as they watch hundreds of other foreign children leave for home.
“They can’t understand why they don’t have a chance to be saved like the other Australians and given a shot at a normal life,” one mother in the camp told Guardian Australia.
“They want to go to school and make friends, and go to a park that’s not caged in by a fence with soldiers that scream and point their guns at them when they try to play.”
The high court this week declined to hear an appeal from the federal court brought by Save the Children, which argued Australia had a legal responsibility to repatriate its citizens from indefinite detention in the Kurdish-run displaced persons’ camps.
The federal court had previously found there was no legal obligation on Australia to repatriate its citizens – but did say it was a “relatively straightforward” exercise to bring them home if the government “had the political will”.
There are about 40 Australians – 10 women and 30 children – held in detention camps in north Syria. They are the wives, widows and children of slain or jailed Islamic State fighters.
Most have been held in the Roj camp near the Turkish border since 2019. Four are understood to be held in al-Hawl detention camp nearer to Iraq.
None have been charged with a crime or face a warrant for arrest.
Conditions at the camps are “dire”, the Red Cross says; illness and malnutrition are rife and the security situation is “extremely volatile”.
Australia has previously conducted two successful repatriation missions: in 2019 of eight orphaned children; and in October 2022 of four women and 13 children.
But sources have told the Guardian political hesitancy and electoral calculations have stalled further attempts. “The government will not revisit the issue before the next election,” one said. Advocates hope the newly appointed home affairs minister, Tony Burke, might bring renewed engagement on the issue.
There are about 2,000 foreign nationals held in Roj camp. The UK, US, France, Belgium, Germany and Canada have all repatriated citizens in recent months. Ukraine, in the middle of a war, completed a repatriation last week.
“We feel abandoned,” another Australian mother in Roj camp said. “We were told we were all going home …
“Every day is a living hell. This is just a form of indefinite torture. We haven’t been given any explanation … as to why we were left behind.”
Some of the children require surgery, which they cannot get in the camp. Others have untreated shrapnel wounds and impacted teeth. They are also suffering psychologically: many experiencing night terrors, anxiety and panic attacks.
“We are dreading the freezing winter that is almost here,” one mother said. “My five-year-old daughter has developed a chest condition … because of the oilfield fumes that surrounds us.
“My 12-year-old nephew almost lost his life last winter due to a severe asthma attack. I’m so worried that one of us will not make it through.”
Compounding health concerns, teenage boys live with the looming fear they could be removed from the camp– over concerns they could become radicalised and pose a security threat – and put into adult male prisons.
The Australian government is understood to be concerned about a potential backlash to a repatriation from community groups in electorally crucial marginal seats in western Sydney, despite the fact many of those still held in the camp are from Victoria and seek to return there. In Roj camp, the Australian mothers are acutely aware of the political backlash at home to the last repatriation, almost two years ago.
“Our communities are ready to receive us and help and support and love us,” one mother said.
“We don’t want to hurt anyone, we just want our rights as human beings and the chance to heal ourselves and our children and forget about this nightmare.
“We never know who will die overnight and who will survive these conditions.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs said the government “remained concerned about the remaining Australian-linked women and children in the internally displaced persons camps”.
“Australian agencies keep the situation in the IDP camps in north-east Syria under constant review.”
Save the Children Australia’s chief executive, Mat Tinkler, said his organisation respected the high court’s decision but was “deeply disappointed” by the outcome.
“These innocent Australian children, and their mothers, should be brought home after five long years trapped in the camps,” he said.
Tinkler said the success of previous repatriations – children reintegrated back into schools, and mothers into work, study and their communities – demonstrated Australia could safely bring citizens back.
Returns could involve prosecutions if domestic authorities believed them warranted: one mother in the 2022 cohort pleaded guilty in a New South Wales court to entering a proscribed area of Syria. She was ultimately discharged conditionally without conviction.
“Australia’s robust social, national security and judicial systems have the proven ability to carry out these repatriations and reintegration safely – not just for the women and children, but for the entire community,” Tinkler said.
“These camps are one of the worst places in the world to be a child, and we retain grave fears for the safety of these innocent Australian children every day that they remain there.”
