European States’ Obligations to Repatriate the Children Detained in Camps in Northeast Syria themselves in an area of armed conflict, which exposes them to significant risk of death and serious injury. In these circumstances, European States cannot convincingly argue that they are not aware of the risks and harm that the children are exposed to. European States must act with requisite due diligence and put in place preventative operational measures to protect the right to life of the children in the camps. Repatriation is both a “necessary” and a “reasonable” operational measure. First, repatriation is necessary because the children’s lives are currently at significant risk and repatriation is in their best interests. Other operational preventive measures that States could take to protect the right to life, such as humanitarian aid, would not effectively prevent the risk of deprivation of life from materializing, since even if the sanitary conditions in the camps improve and children have better access to water and food, they still remain in an area of armed conflict, which threatens their lives. Second, repatriation is a reasonable course of action because it is an available measure for European States to use and some have already done so through their own means or in collaboration with other States.398 Finally, repatriation has been repeatedly encouraged by the authorities controlling the camps,399 the UNSC, the European Parliament, and the Council of Europe.400 By failing to repatriate the children in the camps, European States fail to meet their obligations under international human rights law because they are not doing all that could be reasonably expected from them in order to prevent the real and immediate risk to the life of the children from materializing.401 398 With the support of France, The Netherlands repatriated two Dutch children in June 2019, see: Reuters, “French, Dutch Islamic State Orphans Repatriated from Syria,” 10 June 2019. 399 See, for example, Kurdistan 24, “Syrian Kurds Call on Foreign Countries to Take Back IS Fighters,” 7 October 2018. UNSC, “ Resolution 2427” (2018), para. 26; European Parliament, “Resolution of 26 November 2019 on Children’s Rights on the Occasion of the 30th Anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child,” para. 61; PACE, “Resolution 2321 (2020) on International Obligations Concerning the Repatriation of Children From War and Conflict Zones”. 401 See: ECtHR, “Osman v. UK,” para. 116. 400 69