Prof. Fionnuala Ní Aoláin Co-Authors Op-Ed About Swedish Children Still Detained in Syrian Camps

Professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, Regents Professor and Robina Chair in Law, Public Policy, and Society, co-authored an op-ed in the Swedish media site Dagens Nyheter about Swedish children who have remained detained in Syrian prison camps. She and her co-authors wrote, “Today marks six years since the first Swedish children were allowed to come home from war-torn Syria — seven orphaned children who were repatriated were given a new chance at life and are now attending Swedish schools and reintegrated into society. There are three Swedish children left in Syria. They also need to be allowed to come home. All states that are part of the global coalition against IS have the opportunity to have their citizens flown home. What is required from Sweden is approval to enable the repatriation. Sweden, under the previous government, has repatriated the majority of Swedish children in the camps, and has shown that it has the capacity to act. Repatriation, that is, bringing them home, is the only way to ensure that these children — who are innocent victims of war — have their rights met according to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.”