In a joint public campaign with Human Rights Watch, War Child UK and Reprieve, we call on the UK government to repatriate British families who are being unlawfully detained in northeast Syria. Join us in calling for action.

Right now, approximately 25 British families are unlawfully detained in northeast Syria. The majority of the British detainees are children and of these, most are under 10 years old. The Bring them Home campaign calls on the UK government to bring British families detained in northeast Syria home.

How the UK’s hardline counter-terrorism policies violate children’s rights

In recent years the UK government has opted for policies that violate human rights, and disproportionately the rights of children, in the name of ‘fighting terrorism’. British citizens recruited as children or born to those recruited by the so-called Islamic State, are left stuck in Syria and Iraq.

• Children are growing up in a dangerous environment, with very limited access to education, sufficient food, clean water and shelter and medical care simply because the government refuse to bring these families back to their home country.

• They are unlawfully detained in conditions with cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment and even torture, living in squalid conditions, where they are exposed daily to life-threatening violence, disease and other deprivations. 

• Many British women residing in the camps have been sexually abused and exploited, trafficked to Syria as children or coerced into travelling there. 

• Boys as young as eleven are being forcibly separated from their families and moved to other facilities, including male prisons, where they endure horrific conditions, are at heightened risk of abuse and have little to no contact with the outside world.

Children must be repatriated and reintegrated

Children should be brought home, reintegrated and given the opportunity to rebuild their lives. Research has shown that in spite of the ordeals they’ve experienced, many of the children are successfully reintegrating and are back in school. States must accept responsibility for children who are their citizens, and act within their duty to uphold and protect children’s rights.

Learn more about CRIN’s project looking at how measures in the UK violate children’s rights in the name of ‘fighting terrorism’.

Read our Research Guide on the Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Child Returnees from North East Syria

Read our paper Bringing Children Home: A children's rights approach to returning from ISIL