80 QIL 60 (2019) 69-97 ZOOM IN nationality clearly comes into play also with regard to the repatriation of FTFs and their families as, according to some Governments, resorting to this action ‘releases’ them from the obligation to proactively seek the return of their nationals.52 As the next sections will show, even though it is not possible to pin down a ‘strict obligation under international law’ to repatriate the family members of FTFs,53 several other commitments established under different fields of international law − in particular international humanitarian law, international counter-terrorism law, the law of diplomatic and consular relations and human rights law − argue in favour of said obligation and corroborate the argument that States of nationality cannot shrug off responsibility for the fate of children and women still located in Syria and Iraq. 3.1. International humanitarian law Since women and children have been deprived of their liberty − ie they are in overcrowded prisons in Iraq and confined indefinitely and without procedural guarantees in camps under the authority of the SDF in Syria – it is utterly important to shed light on the grounds upon which they are currently held as this also contributes to frame the obligations of States of nationality. Without lingering on the degree to which international law regulates the procedural aspects of security detention or ‘internment’ in armed conflicts − more specifically in those not of an international character − which has already been the subject of extensive scholarly debate,54 what is worth underscoring here is that the IHL rules applicable to noninternational armed conflicts (NIACs) ‘do not constrain States’ detention 52 Emblematic in this regard is the UK Government's decision to strip Ms Shamima Begum of her citizenship after she asked to be repatriated to the UK. The highly criticized choice of the UK left Ms Begum de facto Stateless as a possible second citizenship was denied by the Bangladeshi Government, and led to the death of her child in the SDFcontrolled Al-Hol camp in the Northern part of Syria. See NHB Jørgensen, ‘Children Associated with Terrorist Groups in the Context of the Legal Framework for Child Soldiers’ (2019) 60 QIL-Questions Intl L 5, 6. 53 C Paulussen, ‘The Repatriation of Western Foreign Fighters and their Families’ ISPI Commentary (28 June 2019) <www.ispionline.it/en/pubblicazione/repatriationwestern-foreign-fighters-and-their-families-23409>; Capone (n 1). 54 L Hill-Cawthorne, Detention in Non-International Armed Conflict (OUP 2016); R Goodman, ‘The Detention of Civilians in Armed Conflict’ (2009) 103 AJIL 48.