European States’ Obligations to Repatriate the Children Detained in Camps in Northeast Syria Economic Social and Cultural Rights.515 At the regional level, possible legal avenues include: the European Court of Human Rights,516 the European Court of Justice,517 and the often overlooked European Committee of Social Rights.518 Depending on each legal mechanism, litigation could take numerous forms, including individual and/or collective communications, requests for interim measures, of requests for the instigation of inquiries. In the past year, the failure of European governments to repatriate their child nationals together with their primary caregivers from the camps has started to be legally challenged in various fora. Whether it is used for litigation before domestic or regional courts or before human rights treaty bodies, this legal briefing paper is intended to assist advocates and litigators in advancing creative approaches to address this seemingly intractable problem. 515 Communications may be submitted by or on behalf of individuals or groups of individuals, under the jurisdiction of a State Party to the “Optional Protocol to the ICESCR,” claiming to be victims of a violation of any of the rights set forth in the CESCR. 516 See: ECtHR, “H.F. and M.F. v. France”. 517 When they act in the sphere of application of EU law, the EU member states should fully comply with the EU “Charter of Fundamental Rights” (Article 6(1) TEU). They also must take into account the fundamental rights included among the general principles of EU law, which derive from the ECHR and the constitutional traditions common to the member states (Article 6(3) TEU). 518 The European Committee of Social Rights monitors the implementation of the 1961 European Social Charter, the 1988 Additional Protocol extending the social and economic rights guaranteed by the European Social Charter of 1961, and the 1996 Revised European Social Charter. Under Article 1 of the “Additional Protocol to the European Social Charter Providing for a System of Collective Complaints,” several types of organizations are entitled to lodge complaints to the ECSR, including international NGOs registered on the Governmental Committee of the European Social Charter’s “List of International NonGovernmental Organisations Entitled to Submit Collective Complaints” (1 October 2020). States may also give permission to national NGOs to lodge complaints before the Committee; however, Finland is the only State to have done so. The Revised Charter’s relevant legal standards for making the case for the repatriation of children from the camps may include: the right to protect of health, strongly interrelated with the right to life as set out in this briefing paper; the right of children and young persons to protection against physical and moral dangers to which children and young persons are exposed; the right of the family to social, legal and economic protection; the right of children and young persons to social, legal and economic protection, and non-discrimination. See: “1996 Revised European Social Charter,” Articles 7.10, 11, 16, 17 and E. The ECSR is unique among regional human rights mechanisms for its collective as opposed to individual - complaint mechanism, and the flexibility it allows States in deciding which provisions of the Charter to accept. 88