Finland's failure to repatriate Finnish children living in Syrian camps was a violation of children's rights, according to a decision by the UN Child Rights Committee (CRC) published on Wednesday.
The committee said its decision was based on a case filed on behalf of six Finnish children held at the al-Hol camp in Syria. The children were born in Syria to parents who "have allegedly collaborated with Da’esh, the ISIL terrorist group," the CRC said.
The case was filed with the UN committee in 2019.
Since then, three of those children were able to leave the camp with their mother and arrived in Finland.
However, the three remaining children, aged 5-6, are still being detained "in closed camps in a war-like zone," a statement about the decision read.
It was reported in the summer of 2020 that a Finnish woman arrived in Finland with her children after fleeing the al-Hol camp, but without assistance from the Finnish government. Nearly one year later, Finland confirmed that a woman and her two young children from the camp had also been repatriated.
Finland urged to repatriate remaining kids
The committee's decision found that Finland "has the responsibility and power" to protect the children from life-threatening conditions by repatriating them. It added that the extended detention of the children "amounts to inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment."
The committee also found that Finland has not shown that it adequately considered the "best interests of the child victims when assessing their relatives' requests for repatriation," and urged Finland to repatriate the three remaining children.
"The situation of children in the camps has been widely reported as inhuman, lacking basic necessities including water, food and health care, and facing an imminent risk of death," committee member Ann Skelton said in the statement.
"We call on Finland to take immediate and decisive action to preserve the lives of these children, and to bring them home to their families."
Finland has 180 days to notify the CRC of further measures it plans to take.