63 1 Thomas Renard and Rik Coolsaet, ‘From Bad to Worse: the Fate of European Foreign Fighter and Families Detained in Syria, One Year After the Turkish Offensive’ Egmont Institute, Security Policy Brief No. 130 (October 2020) (‘Egmont Institute Security Policy Brief’) 5, available at: https://www.egmontinstitute.be/content/uploads/2020/10/SPB130_final.pdf?type=pdf. This was confirmed by the Belgian Government in an email to RSI on 19 November 2020. 2 Belgian Government email to RSI on 19 November 2020. 3 ‘Syrie : La Belgique pour un Retour Groupé d’Enfants de Jihadistes’ Le Point (14 February 2020), available at: https://www.lepoint.fr/monde/ syrie-la-belgique-pour-un-retour-groupe-d-enfants-de-jihadistes-13-02-2020-2362634_24.php. 4 Belgian Government email to RSI on 19 November 2020. 5 See Annex III to this Report for a summary of repatriation efforts to date as publicly verified. 6 This was confirmed by the Belgian Government in an email to RSI on 19 November 2020. 7 Egmont Institute Security Policy Brief (n 1) 5. 8 See Annex III to this Report for a summary of repatriation efforts to date as publicly verified. 9 Egmont Institute Security Policy Brief (n 1) 5. 10 See paragraph 58 of this report detailing the issue of teenage boys forcibly removed from the camps. 11 German Government email to RSI on 20 November 2020. 12 ‘German Islamic State fighters in Syria have right to return home: government spokesman’ Reuters (Berlin, 18 February 2019), available at: https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-mideast-crisis-germany-is/german-islamic-state-fighters-in-syria-have-right-to-return-home-governmentspokesman-idUKKCN1Q70WS. 13 German Government email to RSI on 20 November 2020. 14 See Annex III to this Report for a summary of repatriation efforts to date as publicly verified. 15 Apart from the exceptional case of the Belgian woman who had recently turned 18 year when she was repatriated (see above). 16 Egmont Institute Security Policy Brief (n 1) 5. 17 Dutch Government email to RSI on 20 November 2020. 18 Dutch Government email to RSI on 20 November 2020. The Government also confirmed that there is no form of diplomatic representation in Syria. 19 Dutch Government email to RSI on 20 November 2020. 20 See Annex III to this Report for a summary of repatriation efforts to date as publicly verified. 21 Egmont Institute Security Policy Brief (n 1) 5. 22 British Government letter to RSI on 20 November 2020. 23 British Government letter to RSI on 20 November 2020. See also Question for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office on Syria: Migrant Camps, UIN HL9983, tabled on 4 November 2020 (‘Parliamentary Question November 2020’), available at: https://questionsstatements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2020-11-04/hl9985. 24 Estimates of the number of British orphans in the camp are consistently that there are very few. Other than three orphans identified by the BBC, RSI has not heard of reports of British orphans that number above single digits. 25 British Government letter to RSI on 20 November 2020. See also Parliamentary Question November 2020 (n 24). 26 See Annex III to this Report for a summary of repatriation efforts to date as publicly verified. 27 Dr Abdulkarim Omar announced that, ‘Today, 21 Novmeber 2019. Three British orphans from ISIS parents were handed over to a delegation representing the British Foreign Ministry, headed by Mr. Martin Longden, according to an official repatriation document signed by the Selfe Administration and the British Government’ (Twitter, 21 November 2019), available at: https://twitter.com/abdulkarimomar1/ status/1197560995117436928. See also ‘Islamic State: British child rescued from Syria, foreign secretary says’ BBC (16 September 2020), available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54174367. 28 Mark Townsend, “Priti Patel blocks rescue of ISIS children” The Guardian (16 November 2019), available at: https://www.theguardian.com/ politics/2019/nov/16/priti-patel-block-rescue-british-isis-children. RIGHTS & SECURITY INTERNATIONAL