European States’ Obligations to Repatriate the Children Detained in Camps in Northeast Syria arbitrariness or lawfulness of their detention and receive remedies without delay.411 Notably, negative obligations under the Convention against Torture are not spatially limited or territorially defined, nor are obligations to cooperate to end torture and other ill-treatment.412 Under European human rights law, ill-treatment does not necessarily have to be inflicted,413 but it must attain a minimum of level of severity, which depends on facts such as: duration of the treatment, its physical and mental effects, and the sex, age, and state of health of the victim.414 Because the children’s detention in the camps is indefinite, so is the duration of their illtreatment, which has serious physical and mental effects, including potential deprivation of life. Furthermore, the children in the camps are young, and are especially vulnerable due to the lack of sanitary conditions, food, and medical treatment (see Section I on Factual Background). There is a strong argument that the children’s arbitrary and indefinite detention, in combination with the appalling detention conditions and their lack of access to any procedural rights as de facto detainees, constitutes torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, because of the “cumulative infliction of serious psychological harm,”415 as well as physical harm. The children are arbitrarily and collectively detained because of the perceived security risk they pose as being formerly affiliated, or being perceived to be so, with ISIS. However, while States face difficulties in protecting their communities from the risk of terrorist violence, the victims’ conduct is irrelevant with regard to the prohibition on torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. 416 Under European human rights law, European States are obliged to safeguard individuals from risks of torture or ill-treatment however undesirable or dangerous their activities might be. 417 Arguably, in the case of the children in the camps, European States have an obligation to prevent children’s exposure to the risks of ill-treatment and inhuman punishment, given the knowledge they have of the risks to which children are exposed in the camps. 411 UNGA, “Note by the Secretary-General on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment,” 7 August 2015, A/70/303, para. 37. Ibid, para. 28. 413 ECtHR, “D. v. UK,” Application No. 30240/96, para. 53. 414 ECtHR, “Ireland v. UK,” Application No. 5310/71, 18 January 1978, Series A, No. 25, para. 162. 415 See, HRComm, “F.K.A.G._et_al._v._Australia,” CCPR/C/108/D/2094/2011, 20 August 2013, para. 9(8). 416 ECtHR, “Chahal v. UK,” Application No. 22414/93, 11 November 1996, para. 79-80. 417 Ibid, para. 80. 412 71