Russia prepares to bring more children to their home country from Syria next year as part of the repatriation drive, the children's rights ombudswoman said Thursday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th December, 2019) Russia prepares to bring more children to their home country from Syria next year as part of the repatriation drive, the children's rights ombudswoman said Thursday."We planned one more trip before the end of this year but the situation has evolved in a way that children's return has to be put off until next year," Anna Kuznetsova told reporters in Moscow.
Russia has been pulling children of Russian fighters by dozens from refugee camps and prisons in Iraq and Syria since the Islamic State terror group (IS, banned in Russia) started losing its grip on the countries in past years.
Kuznetsova said she had extradition permits for 84 Russia-born children living in the Al-Hawl camp in northern Syria. A total of 146 Russian minors could be held there, according to a preliminary list.
"The problem is that they will not give us sisters without their brothers and brothers without their sisters. As long as we do not have papers for all siblings we are not allowed to take them away," she said.
Al-Hawl is the biggest refugee camp in Syria. It was home to almost 69,000 people, most of them Syrians and Iraqis, as of this past November. Around 10,000 of the camp's population are foreigners believed to be families of IS fighters.
