European States’ Obligations to Repatriate the Children Detained in Camps in Northeast Syria Consular assistance 308 is a tool to ensure that the rights of nationals abroad are protected, which has a preventive function. 309 Consular assistance refers to various kinds of help, advice, and support that diplomatic agents of a State provide to its nationals abroad, especially when nationals face hardship and need to obtain appropriate assistance. 310 It may include: providing information, arranging for legal representation, issuing emergency identity or travel documents, protecting the interests of children or others with limited capacity, and repatriating distressed citizens.311 Regarding detention, consular assistance also involves provision of certain rights:312 when a national is arrested or detained abroad, they must be advised of their right to have their consulate notified without delay and have a right to regular consultation with consular officials during detention. 313 States’ obligation to provide consular assistance, and therefore citizens’ right to receive consular assistance, can arise from domestic law, regional law, and international law. 308 Note that “[Diplomatic protection] differs from consular assistance in that it is conducted by representatives of the State acting in the interest of the State in terms of a rule of general international law, whereas consular assistance is, in most instances, carried out by consular officers, who represent the interest of the individual, acting in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. Diplomatic protection is essentially remedial and is designed to remedy an internationally wrongful act that has been committed, while consular assistance is largely preventive and mainly aims at preventing the national from being subjected to an internationally wrongful act.” See: ILC, “The Report of the International Law Commission on the Work of its 58th Session A/61/10, Chapter IV (2006): Draft Articles on Diplomatic Protection and Commentaries, adopted by the ILC on Second Reading”, Commentary to Article 1, p. 28, para. 9. For further information on the distinction between diplomatic protection and consular assistance, see: Annemarieke Vermeer-Künzli, “Exercising Diplomatic Protection, the Fine Line Between Litigation, Demarches and Consular Assistance”, Journal for Comparative Public Law and International Law ZaöRV, Volume 66, 2006, pp. 321-350. 309 Vienna Conventions on Diplomatic and on Consular Relations (“VCCR”), 24 April 1963, Article 5(a) and (e); Citizens Consular Assistance Regulation in Europe (CARE) Project, “Consular and Diplomatic Protection. Legal Framework in EU Member States”, 2010, p. 10. 310 Sanna Mustasaari, “Finnish Children or Cubs of the Caliphate: Jurisdiction and State Response-Ability in Human Rights Law, Private International Law and the Finnish Child Welfare Act”, Oslo Law Review, 2020, p. 32. 311 ILC, “Draft Articles on Consular Relations, with Commentaries,” Yearbook of the International Law Commission (1961) vol. II, commentary to Article 5 on “Consular Functions”. For example: EU, “Council Directive (EU) 2015/637 of 20 April 2015 on the coordination and cooperation measures to facilitate consular protection for unrepresented citizens of the Union in third countries and repealing”, Decision 95/553/EC, Article 9. 312 International Bar Association Human Rights Institute “A Pressing Concern: Protecting and Promoting Press Freedom by Strenghtening Consular Support to Journalists at Risk”, drafted by the Honourable Professor Irwin Cotler, 16 November 2020, p. 49. 313 VCCR, Article 36(b)(1). See also: Reema Omer, “Do Alleged “Terrorists” and Spies Have the Right to Consular Access Under the VCCR?”, Opinion Juris, 22 February 2019. 55