• Four Australian women and 13 children have been returned to New South Wales from a Syrian refugee camp.
• They are related to former Islamic State (ISIL) fighters who have died or been imprisoned.
• The repatriation is part of a plan to bring these women and children back from Syria.

Home affairs minister Clare O’Neil said that the Australian government had returned four Australian women and their 13 children to the state of New South Wales from a Syrian refugee camp.

Several Australian women and children who are related to ISIL (ISIS) fighters who have died or been imprisoned have been languishing for years in the al-Hol and Roj detention camps in Kurdish-controlled northeastern Syria. The repatriation is a part of a plan to bring these women and children back from Syria.

Australia returned eight ISIL combatants’ children and grandkids from a Syrian refugee camp for the first time in 2019, but it hasn’t returned any more people until today.

O’Neil stated in a statement on Saturday that “the decision to repatriate these women and their children was influenced by individual assessments following thorough work by national security services.”

According to the Sydney Morning Herald and state broadcaster ABC, the women and children fled the Roj refugee camp in northern Syria on Thursday afternoon and crossed into Iraq to catch a flight home.

According to O’Neil, the government “seriously assessed the variety of security, community, and welfare concerns in reaching the decision to repatriate,” and at all times the focus has been on the safety and security of “all Australians” as well as those involved in the repatriation.

The repatriation came after such actions by the US, Italy, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, the UK, and Canada, according to O’Neil.

She stated that state and federal law enforcement agencies will keep looking into claims of unlawful activities.

O’Neil stated that any offences could result in legal action and that New South Wales was offering “extensive support services” to help the group reintegrate into Australia.

The leader of the opposition party, Peter Dutton, has criticized the decision as being against the interests of the nation, claiming that the ladies have mixed with “those who detest our country, despise our way of life.”

In a statement released on Saturday, the group of women who had been repatriated said they were “truly grateful” to be back in Australia and expressed responsibility for the “troubles and hurt” their acts had caused, especially to their families.

The women expressed hope that “all Australian children and their moms will soon be repatriated from the camps in Syria,” asking for privacy and space to reunite with their loved ones.

The return, according to Human Rights Watch researcher Sophie McNeill, is a “long overdue gesture.”

The Australian government has been leaving its citizens in impenetrable camps in northeast Syria for years, according to McNeill.

Through these orderly repatriations of its citizens, the majority of whom are youngsters who never chose to live under ISIS, Australia may take the lead in the fight against terrorism, according to the official.

An estimated 11,000 international children and women are still present in the Roj and al-Hol camps, according to the humanitarian organization Save the Children, which praised Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for his “strong leadership” on the repatriation plan.

The organization stated in a statement that “the hazards to children have only increased due to rising violence and a cholera outbreak across the region.”

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MEDIA RELEASE: : Save the Children welcomes the safe repatriation of 13 innocent Australian children and their mothers to home shores after spending years in camps in North East Syria. pic.twitter.com/GQSAk1Ufys

— Save the Children Australia News (@SaveAusNews) October 29, 2022

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