European States’ Obligations to Repatriate the Children Detained in Camps in Northeast Syria Children in particular are entitled to State measures of protection as required by their status as minors, 391 especially those in situations of vulnerability and children in situations of armed conflict. 392 Accordingly, the HRComm has noted that in addition to the general measures required to protect and respect the right to life, States are required to adopt special measures of protection in relation to children, in accordance with the best interest of the child and the need to ensure the survival, development, and well-being of all children.393 States’ positive obligations to take “necessary and reasonable steps” also arise in relation to their nationals abroad when there are reasonable grounds to believe that they face treatment in flagrant violation of international human rights law.394 As highlighted by two UN Special Rapporteurs, in order to determine whether States have acted with due diligence in preventing unlawful death and have exercised their positive duty to protect the right to life extra-territorially, it is necessary to assess: a) how much the State knew or ought to have known at the time of the existence of a real and immediate risk to life of an identified individual or individuals; b) whether the State knew the risks or likelihood of foreseeable harm; and c) whether the State knew the seriousness of the harm. 395 Regarding the children in the camps, their fundamental right to life is arguably violated by the real and immediate risk of death caused by the inhumane conditions of their arbitrary detention. International human rights law recognizes that extreme forms of arbitrary detention that are themselves life-threatening violate the right to personal liberty and security and are incompatible with the right to life. 396 In addition, the conditions of the children’s detention amount to ill-treatment, which seriously affects their physical and mental health, which can also generate the risk of deprivation of life.397 Hundreds of children have already died of preventable illnesses and hunger, and the COVID-19 pandemic puts their health and life at further risk (see Section I on Factual Background). Above all, the children find 391 ICCPR, Article 24(1). 392 HRComm, “General Comment No. 36 (2018),” para. 23. 393 Ibid, para. 60. See also: CRC, Article 6(2). 394 The Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, “Extra-Territorial Jurisdiction of States Over Children and their Guardians in Camps, Prisons, or Elsewhere in the Northeast Syrian Arab Republic – Legal Analysis,” 2020, para. 3. 395 Ibid, para. 15. See also: ECtHR, “Osman v. UK,” para. 32-33; ECtHR, “Gongadze v. Ukraine,” Application No. 34056/02, 8 February 2006, para. 165. 396 HRComm, “General Comment No. 36 (2018),” para. 57. 397 Ibid, para. 54. 68