These innocent American children were taken to Syria by their Isis sympathiser mother — now it's time to bring them home

There are solutions to the problem of adult Isis fighters: repatriation and trial, or establishing an international UN-sanctioned court in Kurdistan to adjudicate actual crimes. But children are a different story altogether

The number of men, women and children fleeing the former Caliphate and turning up as refugees in Syria is expected to double (AFP/Getty)

The winding up of the last remnants of Isis in northeastern Syria is an important milestone in eliminating the so-called Caliphate, a purported heaven on earth that became a charnel house of death and destruction.

The battlefield is now down to approximately one square mile and Kurdish troops, assisted by European and American forces, are engaged in violent final battles. But this victory should not obscure the humanitarian disaster hidden in the fog of war in the northeast of the country.

There are at least 1,248 children detained in camps in Syria, many of whom are US, EU or Canadian nationals. When the territories controlled by Isis are finally liberated, the number of children is likely to double. There are also 584 women currently detained and 790 men — those numbers are also likely to double. While there are no doubt many hardcore Isis fighters among the men, and even some among the women, the children are caught in a disastrous and urgent trap not of their own making. Many of them were kidnapped by a parent and taken to Syria; some were born there.

Clive Stafford Smith, the founder of Reprieve — of which I am the US Chair — is in Kurdish Iraq, a few hours away from the battlefield. He has been spending time with Bashir Shikder, an American citizen and engineer who lives in South Florida. Bashir’s two children were kidnapped by their mother four years ago, at the ages of 10 months and four years. They are now eight and nearly five. Their mother, who was compelled by Isis to divorce Bashir and remarry, subsequently had another child who is less than two years old. The mother was killed in Baghouz when their house was hit by munitions. And the children suffered serious facial injuries. All three of these innocent children are US citizens; the older two were born in Hollywood, Florida.

We are hoping that it is not too difficult to find three small children in a tiny warzone, at least two of whom have visible facial burns. The State Department in Erbil is helping, as is Congressman Tom Malinowski, who was the Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights under President Obama, and Senator Rubio. We do not want to tell the Department of Defense how to fight a war, but we are hoping that our troops have these kids in the back of their minds. Zahra and Yusuf Shikder and their baby half-sister Safyah are just three innocent children and there are going to be around 2,500 more trying to get through the freezing Syrian winter. If nothing is done, they will also have to negotiate the 110-degree summers.

Much has been written about President Trump’s insistence that EU countries take back 800 fighters, while he refuses to take an Alabama-born woman back into the United States on the apparently spurious grounds that she is not a citizen. The UK is moving to strip citizenship from its nationals. Adult Isis fighters pose complex security and legal challenges. Some may have been coerced or kidnapped or held against their will. Many will have committed atrocious human rights violations. But there are solutions to the problem of adult Isis fighters: repatriation and trial, or establishing an international UN-sanctioned court in Kurdistan to adjudicate actual crimes.

Children, however, are different. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child guarantees respect for a child’s right to life, identity, nationality, survival and development. It prevents discrimination based upon a parents’ race, colour, sex, language, religion or political opinion. It ensures that a child shall not be separated from his or her parents against their will, except when competent authorities subject to judicial review determine it is necessary for the best interests of the child. None of this should be controversial — and virtually every country, including all countries in the EU, have ratified the Convention (although, sadly, the US has signed the Treaty but the Senate has not ratified it.)

Children will die if this problem is not resolved very soon. These thousands of detainees cannot stay in Syria forever. Jordan, Kurdish Iraq, and other countries already have many more refugees than they can take care of.

All children under 18 must be repatriated to their countries of origin. Ideally, their parents should be repatriated as well, with countries of origin taking responsibility for determining whether their parents pose a threat. To the extent that their parents cannot be repatriated at the same time, children need to be taken care of by relatives, foster parents or even in state facilities. They must at the very least be taken out of harm’s way and given access to shelter, healthcare, and nutrition. European countries have no moral or legal choice in the matter. States do not get to pick and choose their citizens or ignore them in their times of peril. That is especially the case with children.

Zahra and Yusuf are two kids from Florida. Their baby half-sister Safyah is also an American. They have done nothing wrong. Their mother is dead. They have grown up in a nightmare world of beheadings and torture. They are injured. A father is trying to get them home alive. It must be everyone’s priority to save them.