Australian girls and youngsters trapped inside Syrian detention camps say they’re “freaking out and so scared … praying for a miracle”, as uncertainty grips the nation after the fall of the reviled Assad regime.
“They are scared for their lives – the fear is palpable,” mentioned Kamalle Dabboussy, whose daughter and grandchildren have been repatriated two years in the past from the Roj camp in Syria’s north-east.
“Rumours abound in the camp about what is happening, nobody knows. The families tell us their supplies of food, medicine and fuel for heating have been disrupted in recent days and they were already fearful that it would worsen over a bleak northern winter.”
However the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has been non-committal about whether or not the federal government would attempt to repatriate its residents.
“We received a briefing on Syria,” Albanese informed a press convention. “Obviously these are difficult times, and it’s a moving situation there in Syria. At this stage there’s no change to the assessment that has been made there.”
Syria has been liberated from the brutal dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad after the Islamist insurgent group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham seized Damascus on Sunday. However the fall of Assad has left an influence vacuum and unleashed extraordinary uncertainty about the way forward for the nation and the position of regional powers.
There are about 40 Australians – 10 girls and 30 kids – held in detention camps within the nation’s Kurdish-controlled north-east. They’re the wives, widows and youngsters of slain or jailed Islamic State fighters.
Most have been held within the Roj camp – managed by Kurdish forces – since 2019. A number of the kids have been born there and know no life exterior the camp.
None have been charged with against the law or face a warrant for arrest.
Situations on the camps are “dire”, human rights teams have constantly mentioned, with a scarcity of meals, water and medical amenities. Sickness and malnutrition are rife and the safety scenario is “extremely volatile”, the Crimson Cross mentioned.
Stephen Sakalian, head of the Worldwide Committee of Crimson Cross’s delegation in Syria mentioned lots of of hundreds of individuals wanted humanitarian help throughout the nation.
“We call on all parties to urgently enable safe and unhindered access for medical and humanitarian workers to reach those in need, to protect civilians, and to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law.”
A spokesperson for Australia’s division of house affairs mentioned the federal government was carefully monitoring unfolding occasions in Syria, and offering consular help to the households of individuals detained there.
“The Australian government’s ability to provide consular assistance to those in Syria is severely limited, due to the extremely dangerous security situation and because we do not have an embassy or consulate in Syria.”
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Australia has beforehand carried out two profitable repatriation missions: eight orphaned kids in 2019 and 4 girls and 13 kids in October 2022.
However authorities sources have informed the Guardian political hesitancy and electoral calculations have stalled additional makes an attempt. “The government will not revisit the issue before the next election,” one mentioned.
A mom inside Roj despatched a message out of the camp: “We are freaking out and so scared … I don’t know what to do. Praying for a miracle.”
Dabboussy, a longtime advocate for the Australian cohort trapped in Syria, mentioned the uncertainty and chaos for the reason that fall of the Assad regime had terrified the Australians trapped within the camps.
“Women also report a reduction in the number of guards that would normally ensure the security and stability of the camps. Now, these families are gripped with anxiety about what will happen in the coming days or weeks.”
The kid rights organisation Save the Youngsters launched a landmark authorized case in 2023 in search of to compel – by way of a writ of habeas corpus – the federal government to repatriate the Australian girls and youngsters. The court docket motion was misplaced. The federal court docket discovered that whereas the Australian authorities had the facility to repatriate its residents, and will accomplish that simply if it had “the political will”, it had no authorized obligation to take action.
Mat Tinkler, the chief govt of Save the Youngsters Australia, mentioned the organisation was “deeply concerned” for the security of youngsters throughout Syria amid the turmoil of the previous couple of days.
“These innocent Australian children, most of whom are under the age of 12, along with their mothers, have been languishing in the camps for more than five years.
“For years we have been urging the Australian government to act before it’s too late. The longer the women and children stay there, the more danger they face.
“We urge the Australian government to arrange for the group’s immediate repatriation before the situation becomes even more volatile.”
Tinkler mentioned Australia had demonstrated that its “robust social, national security, and judicial systems” might repatriate and reintegrate individuals from the camps.
“We should put our faith in these systems to do so again and give these innocent children a future.”
