An Australian court refuses to return women and children detained in the “Roj” camp in the Derik countryside

ARK News… An Australian court ruled that its government is not legally obligated to return 31 Australian women and children from the Roj camp in the Derik countryside in Syrian Kurdistan, designated for the families of ISIS terrorist organization members.

In a ruling in the Federal Court in Melbourne, Justice Mark Moshinski said the Australian government had no control over the area. The court concluded that the defendants had no control over the detention of the women and children, and that part of the application was therefore "rejected", while the he reasons for this decision are communicated to the associated parties on a confidential basis, pending any appeal.

In this regard, the Australian government's lawyers said that it "is not responsible for Australians going to Syria or detaining them, and that detention in the camp is subject to the 'absolute discretion' of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, over which the Australian government has no authority."

Last March, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called on countries to return their nationals from ISIS families detained in Al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria, warning of “threats to security and stability.”

Roj camp in the Derik countryside includes approximately 3,000 members of ISIS families, 65 percent of whom are children.

Al-Hol camp in Hasakah is considered the largest camp housing ISIS families, as it included more than 70,000 people at its peak in 2019. Now it includes approximately 50,000 individuals, 90 percent of whom are women and children, including 25,000 Iraqis, 18,000 Syrians, and 7,800 third-country nationals from fifty-seven countries. It should be noted that 23 percent of the entire population are under five years of age, while 42 percent of the population are children between five and eighteen years of age. According to United Nations statistics.

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