NORDIC JOURNAL OF HUMAN RIGHTS 145 refugee camp Al Hol.28 Recently concerns due to the spread of the COVID-19 virus were added to the list of threats.29 In legal proceedings pending before the Dutch Supreme Court,30 it has been established the children in Northern Syria live in poor conditions.31 It is icy cold in winter, and yearround the camps are plagued by overcrowding, avoidable diseases, ideological indoctrination, and a lack of water, food, sanitary facilitations, medical care and education.32 2.3. Nationality of the children The NCTV and AIVD refer to children with ‘ties to the Netherlands’.33 According to the NCTV, these are children with one or both parents who have Dutch citizenship or with parents who have resided in the Netherlands for a long period.34 Children with one or both Dutch parents automatically obtained Dutch nationality as they were born in the Netherlands before leaving for the conflict zone, or later by birth in the conflict zone itself. Article 3(1) of the Netherlands Nationality Act (RWN) provides that a child whose father or mother is Dutch at the time of the child’s birth, as well as the child of a Dutch national who is now dead, automatically obtains Dutch nationality. This also applies in the case of a child born abroad.35 In addition, if a Dutch father in the Netherlands acknowledges his child at any time before the child reaches the age of seven, the child automatically obtains Dutch nationality.36 Acknowledgement in a foreign country can also be valid under certain circumstances.37 If the child is already older than seven years of age, but still a minor, Dutch nationality can only be obtained by acknowledgement if proof is submitted of the biological paternity within one year of the acknowledgement.38 It is possible to establish to what extent the children born in the Netherlands, who were taken by their parent, or parents, to a conflict zone abroad are Dutch. Data in relation to their nationality can be found in the municipal records in the Netherlands.39 The situation is different, however, when it comes to the children born in Syria, Iraq and Turkey. As mentioned above, this group of children is much larger.40 In so far as these children are Dutch, they will have difficulty proving their Dutch nationality. A girl aged three-and-a-half died from a piece of shrapnel: see Hassan Bahara and Tjerk Gualthérie van Weezel, ‘Dochtertje van Nederlandse Syriëganger overleden’ De Volkskrant (Amsterdam, 5 April 2019). A three-week-old baby died from a lung infection: see Casper Luckerhof, ‘Koerdische troepen: baby van Arnhemse jihadist Yago R. overleden’ De Volkskrant (Amsterdam, 8 March 2019). 29 ‘Virus Fears Spread at Camps for ISIS Families in Syria’s North East’ (International Crisis Group, 7 April 2020) <www. crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/eastern-mediterranean/syria/virus-fears-spread-camps-isis-families-syrias-northeast> accessed 14 May 2020. 30 See further section 5. 31 District Court The Hague (n 5) 4.9; Court of Appeal The Hague ECLI:NL:GHDHA:2019:3208 (22 November 2019) 1.3; The Child Justice Advocacy Group (n 11); the statement of Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, during the 41st session of the UN Human Rights Council on 2 July 2019 <https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/Pages/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=24773&LangID=E> accessed 20 August 2020. 32 District Court The Hague (n 5) 4.9; Coles (n 16); ‘Terugkeer van kwetsbare Nederlandse kinderen’ (n 11). 33 AIVD (n 2); NCTV (n 2) 1. 34 NCTV (n 2). 35 Gerard de Groot in Sylvia M Wortmann (ed), Groene Serie Personen- en familierecht (Wolters Kluwer 2017) art 3 RWN, para 1.5. 36 Ibid. art 4 RWN, 3. 37 Ibid. art 4 RWN, 4.1.1. 38 Ibid. art 4 RWN, 8. 39 Act on the Register of Persons (Wet basisregistratie personen), art 2.7 (1)(a) (5). 40 NCTV (n 2). 28