64 RSI interview with US foreign policy expert with extensive experience in North East Syria, 3 November 2020: a number of countries, including Sweden, Finland, Germany, the UK and France – probably Belgium and maybe the Netherlands – have sent people (diplomatic, intelligence, military, police) into the camps at various times. 65 Question for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office on Syria: Migrant Camps, UIN HL9983, tabled on 4 November 2020, available at: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2020-11-04/hl9983. 66 A Lloyd, The Times (25 November 2020) 67 RSI interview with Dr Abdulkarim Omar, Co-Head of the Department of Foreign Relations of the AANES, 10 February 2020. 68 See also RSI interview with Anne Speckhard, Director of ICSVE, 29 October 2020: French nationals she spoke with in the camps explained that they were refusing media and research interviews because French security officials warned them not to speak with anyone in the media or this might stop them from getting home. 69 R Said, A McDowall, P Graff, ‘Syrian Kurds say they cannot hold foreign jihadists indefinitely’ Reuters (20 September 2018), available at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-foreign-fighters/syrian-kurds-say-they-cannot-hold-foreign-jihadistsindefinitely-idUSKCN1M02LN; A Kaval, ‘Les Kurdes demandent le depart des djihadistes éstrangers détenus en Syrie’ Le Monde (8 October 2018), available at: https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2018/10/08/djihadistes-etrangers-detenus-en-syrie-leskurdes-demandent-leur-rapatriement_5366374_3210.html; L56Dearden, ‘Shamima Begum: Syrian Kurds demand UK repatriates British teenager and other Isis members’ The Independent (15 February 2019), available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/ shamima-begum-isis-bride-syria-return-uk-blocked-pregnant-bethnal-green-kurds-a8780941.html> accessed 22 November 2020; ‘Les Kurdes de Syrie dénoncent le refus des pays de l’UE de reprendre leurs djihadistes’ Le Figaro (3 October 2018), available at: : https:// www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/2018/10/31/97001-20181031FILWWW00254-les-kurdes-de-syrie-denoncent-le-refus-des-pays-de-l-ue-de-reprendreleursdjihadistes.php. 70 See Annex III to this Report for a summary of repatriation efforts to date as publicly verified. 71 Though sometimes they will attempt to put conditions in place, such as requiring letters of requests to come from the State’s foreign ministry, actual visits to request releases, and other acts of recognition: RSI interview with Anne Speckhard, Director of ICSVE, 29 October 2020. 72 The French authorities facilitated the repatriation of two Dutch children to the Netherlands in June 2019. At the time, Dr Abdulkarim Omar announced that, ‘At the request of the Dutch government, the self-administration of North and East Syria handed over on June 9th, 2019, two orphaned Dutch children from ISIL families to a delegation from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the town of Ain Issa’ (Twitter, 10 June 2019), available at: https://twitter.com/abdulkarimomar1/status/1137985518724112384?lang=en 73 For example Russia took DNA samples from 49 orphans in order to confirm their link to Russian citizens on 17 December 2019, an action followed by two repatriation operation in early 2020, see ‘Russia Tests ISIS Orphans’ DNA Ahead of Repatriation’ The Moscow Times (14 November 2019) available at: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/11/14/russia-tests-isis-orphans-dna-ahead-of-repatriation-a68176. 74 76 Serbeze Haxhiaj, ‘Kosovo Faces Challenge in reintegrating Families of ISIS Fighters’ Balkan Insight (5 September 2019), available at: https://www.thedefensepost.com/2019/05/30/uzbekistan-repatriate-isis-women-children-syria/; ‘Russia Repatriates Islamic State-Linked Children from Syria’ The Moscow Times (7 February 2020), available at: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/02/07/ russia-repatriates-islamic-state-linked-children-from-syria-a69195. ‘Suspected Female ISIS Member Returned to Germany’ The Strait Times (24 November 2019), available at: https:// www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/suspected-woman-isis-member-returned-to-germany; and ‘Norway Takes Steps to Repatriate 5 Children Born into ISIS Family’ Rûdaw (3 June 2019), available at: https://www.rudaw.net/english/world/03062019. In August 2020, Marine General Kenneth McKenzie, the top US general overseeing military efforts across the Middle East, reiterated that 77 the US can and will assist any country which seeks to repatriate their nationals, see this offer to the Australian government in late 2019: Jane Norman, ‘US offers to rescue Australian Islamic State families in Syria’ ABC News (15 November 2020), available at: https://www.abc. net.au/news/2019-11-16/us-offers-to-rescue-australian-islamic-state-families-in-syria/11710924. Belgium, the Netherlands, and the UK have used such laws against women in the North East Syria camps. 75 78 Question for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, UIN HL9985, tabled on 4 November 2020, available at: https://questionsstatements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2020-11-04/hl9985. 79 RSI interviews with women in the camps and their families, November 2019-February 2020; ICSVE, ‘ISIS in Their Own Words: Recruitment History, Motivations for Joining, Travel, Experiences in ISIS, and Disillusionment over Time – Analysis of 220 In-depth Interviews of ISIS Returnees, Defectors and Prisoners’ (2020) 13(1) Journal of Strategic Security 82. 80 ICSVE, ‘ISIS in their Own Words’ (n 79), 96-97. 81 ICSVE, ‘ISIS in their Own Words’ (n 79),100. 82 ‘Shamima Begum ‘groomed’ by IS – family lawyer’ BBC News (31 May 2019), available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/ uk-48469348; Michael Segalov, ‘Shamima Begum was groomed. She deserves the chance of rehabilitation’ The Guardian (14 February 2019), available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/feb/14/shamima-begum-grooming-islamic-state-pregnant-uk. 83 ICSVE, ‘ISIS in their Own Words’ (n 79) 100. 84 RSI interviews with women in the camps, November 2019-February 2020. 85 ICSVE, ‘ISIS in their Own Words’ (n 79) 105. 86 See Annex IV to this Report for relevant domestic criminal and administrative measures. 87 Her Majesty’s Government, ‘Contest: The United Kingdom’s Strategy for Countering Terrorism’ (June 2018), [167]. 88 Letter from the Chair of the Committee, UN Doc. S/2020/53 (20 January 2020), [89]. 89 B McKernan, ‘Inside al-Hawl camp, the incubator for Islamic State’s resurgence’ The Guardian (3 1 August 2019), available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/31/inside-al-hawl-camp-the-incubator-for-islamic-states-resurgence; and L Sly, ‘Syria camp is at risk of falling under ISIS control, Kurdish general says’ The Washington Post (4 October 2019), available at: https:// www.washingtonpost. com/world/militant-women-poised-to-take-control-of-isis-camp-syrian-kurdish-generalsays/2019/10/04/72985c18-e5ff-11e9-b0a6-3d03721b85ef_story.html. 90 Remarks at US Department of State Press Conference, 14 November 2019. Video available at: https://twitter.com/StateDept/ status/1195065492668440577. 48 RIGHTS & SECURITY INTERNATIONAL