European States’ Obligations to Repatriate the Children Detained in Camps in Northeast Syria detention, inhuman and degrading conditions of confinement, and other human rights violations they are being subjected to.302 However, most European States’ official position is that they are not legally obliged to provide consular assistance to their nationals detained in northern Syria, arguing that they are free to determine the scope of their own national consular assistance.303 Some States, on the other hand, contextualize their reluctance to repatriate their citizens by citing the lack of consular presence in Syria304 and offer consular assistance only when their nationals present themselves at embassies or consulates in different regions.305 Since 2012, the region where the al-Hol and al-Roj camps are located has been autonomously controlled and enjoys no official diplomatic recognition. 306 Many European States have cut off diplomatic relations with Syria and have no embassy or consulate in the country. However, European States still have the ability to provide consular assistance to their nationals detained in northern Syria through the embassies/consulates located in neighboring countries as well as by collaborating with NGOs that have access to the camps, as evidenced by the successful repatriation of several children and women.307 302 A significant number of European children need to receive consular assistance not only to be repatriated but also to establish their nationality and get issued with their identity and travel documents, and avoid becoming stateless. 303 See, for example: The National News, “Denmark Announces End to Consular Assistance for Its Extremist Fighters”, Arthur Scott-Geddes, 18 November 2019. In 2018, Belgium modified its law on consular assistance, which emphasizes that “consular assistance will be refused to a Belgian who would decide to contravene a travel advisory of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, travel to a warzone or take disproportionate risks without taking the necessary insurance.” See: Kingdom of Belgium, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, “Approval of a Draft Law on Consular Assistance to Belgians Abroad”, 12 January 2018. 304 Rights Watch UK, “European Women and Children in Syria – Factual and Legal Briefing”, 7 November 2019, para. 6. 305 However, for example a Dutch woman who managed to escape from Al Hol, was stripped of her nationality after seeking consular assistance at the embassy in Ankara. See: NL Times, “Two Dutch ISIS Women, Three Children Escaped Syrian Camp, Fled to Turkey”, 1 November 2019; Tanya Mehra, “European Countries Are Being Challenged in Court to Repatriate Their Foreign Fighters and Families”, 7 November 2019; Rights Watch UK, “European Women and Children in Syria – Factual and Legal Briefing”, 7 November 2019, footnote 12. 306 RSI, “Europe’s Guantanamo: The Indefinite Detention of European Women and Children in North East Syria”, 2020, para. 16. 307 This was also the finding of the Tribunal of First Instance of Brussels in regard to the Belgian State’s obligation to repatriate two children detained in Syria together with their primary caregiver. See: Ordonnance, 19/129/C (Tribunal de première instance francophone de Bruxelles, Section civile) 30 October 2019; Arrêt, 2019/KR/60 (Cour d’appel Bruxelles, 18, chambre affaires civiles) 5 March 2020, Section 4, cited in: Alessandra Spadaro, “Repatriation of Family Members of Foreign Fighters: Individual Right or State Prerogative?”, Cambridge University Press, 2020, p. 253. 54