A group of celebrities including Olivia Colman, Stephen Fry and Gillian Anderson have called on ministers to rescue and bring home British families trapped in detention camps in north-east Syria.
The stars, along with various NGOs including War Child UK and Human Rights Watch, the Tory peer Sayeeda Warsi and several national security experts, have signed an open letter to the UK government appealing for the rescue of approximately 25 British families, including an estimated 60 children most of whom are under 10 years old, who are languishing in the camps.
The families have been detained there for almost four years after the collapse of Islamic State.
“These British families have been abandoned by their government and live in squalid conditions where they are exposed daily to life-threatening violence, disease and other deprivations,” the letter states. “Young British boys and girls are growing up in this dangerous environment with very limited access to education, sufficient food, clean water and shelter and medical care.”
Since 2019, at least 38 countries have repatriated or allowed home some or many of their nationals, including, in the last year alone, France, Spain, Australia, Canada, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. The US has brought almost all of its citizens home.
The signatories of the letter – who also include the actors Riz Ahmed, Stanley Tucci and Jonathan Pryce – accuse the UK of “reneging on its human rights obligations, abdicating responsibility for its citizens and risking damage to its global reputation”.
A report last year from the all party parliamentary group on trafficked Britons to Syria found that British women and children detained in camps in north-east Syria had been trafficked to the country against their will. In February this year, Shamima Begum, the most high-profile person from the UK detained in a camp in Syria, lost her appeal against the removal of her British citizenship.
War Child UK has released poll findings suggesting that 53% of UK adults support bringing home British families detained in north-east Syria, compared with 13% who oppose it.
Richard Barrett, a former head of the UN’s al-Qaida/Daesh monitoring team, who also signed the letter, said: “We can and should repatriate British families from these insecure detention centres and reintegrate them into society, prosecuting them within the law where appropriate. Britain is being left behind as countries around the world repatriate their own citizens. If we truly believe in human rights and the rule of law, we should bring these families home.”
Bring British Families Home is a group of British families who have relatives unlawfully and indefinitely detained in north-east Syria. They said:“Every day we suffer the pain of knowing our loved ones are living in dangerous and inhumane conditions. Our nephews, nieces and grandchildren, many of them infants, are growing up in a desert camp, denied access to education, healthcare and the basic rights other British children take for granted.”
A government spokesperson said:“Our priority is to ensure the safety and security of the UK and we will do whatever is necessary to protect the UK from those who pose a threat to our security. Each request for consular assistance is considered on a case-by-case basis.”
