A family member has relayed a message from the Australian children detained indefinitely in a detention camp in Syria. SBS Dateline has been sent an image showing one of the young girls in limbo there, detailing her hopes to return to Australia and become a ballerina. We have been asked not to reveal her name.
It comes as the camp officials confirm they are willing to give the group passage to leave again, if that is possible.
SBS Dateline has been in touch with a family member who has travelled to north-east Syria and has been supporting the families in their efforts to leave the al-Roj camp and return to Australia. They have provided a photo and insight into how the rollercoaster events of the week have impacted on the children.
This photo shows one of the children, and her reaction while being reunited with a family member after spending much of her life living in a tent in the camp.
The family member says the girl said she felt safe for the first time when they came to the camp to rescue her, and that all she wants to do is come to Australia and be a ballerina.
But the initial hopes of the 23 children and 11 women to leave al-Roj this week were dashed after they boarded a bus to leave but were eventually turned back.
A Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) camp official has told SBS the reason the grouping was turned around was “the Syrian regime is not giving passage to the families to reach Damascus, saying no one has coordinated with us in that regard”.
The Australian government has said it will not provide any assistance to repatriate the women and children, with Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek labelling the decision to take children into a war zone an act of “child abuse”.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had no sympathy for the mothers, but did sympathise with the children.
“It's a very difficult situation that they face, but it's one in which those responsible for them being in that position, are those who put them in harm’s way, and that wasn’t the Australian government” he told the Guardian’s Full Story podcast.
Family members trying to bring them back to Australia directly argue they are Australian citizens who have the right to return home.
The group has been issued with Australian travel documentation allowing them to return, but their efforts to leave the camp this week were thwarted. At the same time pressure has mounted on the government to retract the passports it has already issued and prevent the group from returning.
Describing the situation as “tragic”, Opposition leader Angus Taylor argued there are “real questions about radicalisation and what might have occurred with those children”, noting there is no public proposal to separate minors from their parents if they return to Australia.
In 2024, SBS Dateline spoke to Fionnuala Ní Aoláin who was the UN special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism from 2017-2023.
During her tenure, she reported on people arbitrarily detained in north-east Syria, and the conditions of their confinement.
At the time Ní Aoláin believed that as long as these children remain in north-east Syria, Australia violates international law and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
"The basic rule of international law is each country is responsible for its own. You don't shed your nationals like debris and have other countries be responsible for them," she said.
The group of 23 children and 11 women, who are the family of Islamic State (IS) group fighters, were taken to the camps after the fall of the IS group caliphate in 2019.
The IS group is synonymous with violent extremism, brutality, and horrific violence against women. At its height, from 2014 to 2017, journalists and aid workers were among those who were attacked and beheaded – their deaths publicised for the world to see – and cultural sites destroyed.
One of the women in the group has an adverse security assessment which has led to a Temporary Exclusion Order being issued against her by the federal government this week, which could prevent her from returning for up to two years. The identity of this woman is unclear.
In October 2022, the government repatriated 17 Australian women and children from al-Roj. In 2024, one of the woman in the camp told SBS Dateline that after completing risk assessments by ASIO in late 2022, undergoing DNA testing and assembling their travel documents, the family was sure they were next on the list. But they then spent years waiting.
A SDF camp official told SBS Dateline that in the past they dealt with the Australian government when it came to repatriation, however this time “their families got in touch with us and got passports and we wanted to be helpful as we look at the case as a humanitarian case because mostly they are children".
The SDF camp official said they have security concerns about all groups in the camp. When asked if anyone in the group posed a security risk they said: “I can’t tell you that -- all of these families are rehabilitated and can be integrated into society.”
When SBS Dateline asked the camp authorities if they will help the families again, they said: “We have no issue to help, we already tried to help and give them a passage, so we will help them again.”
ASIO does not comment on specific individuals or intelligence matters.
In 2024, ASIO director-general Mike Burgess told SBS News, “Obviously, not everyone stuck in Syria is a threat to security.”
“It's an unfortunate situation. Some are though, and we have to be vigilant about that.”
When returned to the camp, SBS has been told that the young girl and the 23 other children were devastated.
For the latest from SBS News, download our app and subscribe to our newsletter.
Dateline is an award-winning Australian, international documentary series airing for over 40 years. Each week Dateline scours the globe to bring you a world of daring stories. Read more about Dateline
Have a story or comment? Contact Us
