Too many states are failing to take a human rights-based approach to children detained in North East Syria. This needs to change - these children can and must be brought home.

Today we launch a new research guide, which compiles the research on rehabilitation and reintegration for child returnees from North East Syria.

There are over 7,000 children who are detained in North East Syria. They had either been recruited or trafficked by ISIL, or are children of those recruited. Many states treat these children as an unresolvable “national security threat” rather than bringing them home and giving them the support they need. 

Many groups and organisations are pushing for a rights-respecting approach to these children, but this work is made difficult by the fact that there is not much evidence on what an effective response would look like. Because not many states have attempted to bring children back from these regions and reintegrate them into society, there aren’t many example programmes to evaluate and learn best practice from. But research and evidence on what best practice looks like in this context is few and far between. This report aims to address this gap.

The guide aims to help researchers, policymakers and practitioners quickly get to grips with what’s out there and easily access resources focused on rights-based responses. 

Sign up to our newsletter to stay updated and follow the project on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.