12 Mar 2021

NGO urges swift repatriation of children with ISIS links

From Nine To Noon, 9:08 am on 12 March 2021
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Photo: Save The Children

The humanitarian agency Save the Children is urging Western countries to swiftly repatriate the foreign women and children with links to ISIS fighters. 

Talks are under way about the possible deportation here of Suhayra Aden and her two young children from Turkey. The 25-year-old New Zealand citizen and her two children are being held there after trying to illegally cross the border from Syria, where she'd been living with Islamic State fighters since 2014.

Thousands of foreign women and children related to alleged extremists have been held in camps in the Kurdish-controlled part of Syria for about two years.

This week marks ten years since nationwide protests in Syria descended into a deadly conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands, displaced millions of children and their families, and decimated Syria's economy and infrastructure.

Kathryn speaks with Save the Children's Syria Response director Sonia Khush.