United Nations experts have raised concerns over what they called the Australian government’s failure to prevent the “"sheer obliteration" of the rights of its own citizens held in camps in northeast Syria.
Twelve UN special rapporteurs have written a letter to the government about the conditions facing 46 Australian citizens, including 30 children, currently held in the camps.
Family members of men who travelled to Syria and Iraq to fight for the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) are believed to be among those displaced to these locations.
The letter outlines that the UN holds “deep concerns” about the conditions of detention in the camps, notably at Al-Hol and Roj “where most of these individuals are held and deprived of their liberty”.
The Australian government has repeatedly expressed its concern about the situation in northeast Syria, but has said it considers the “safety of all Australians” when considering repatriations from this area.
The government’s reluctance to take this action has centred on the security challenges as well as the potential risk to “community safety” arrivals could pose.
But UN experts have said in their letter - written in February but released Sunday - that the “extreme nature of the situation” cannot be used to justify a decision for inaction.
“It is our considered view that any argument based on the extreme nature of the situation cannot be used to justify such already lengthy detentions and the complete lack of steps taken by your Excellency’s government to remedy the sheer obligation of the rights of the Australian citizens resulting from their arbitrary deprivation of liberty,” the letter reads.
Acting CEO of Save the Children Australia Mat Tinkler said the UN’s letter had clearly outlined the need for the Australian government to act.
“The United Nations has called out Australia for failing to meet its obligations to children,” he said in a statement.
“If this admonishment won’t prompt the repatriation of innocent, vulnerable children, exactly what will it take?”
The letter details that the UN experts “understand with concern that some of those detained, including children are being deprived of their citizenship by the Australian authorities.”
“We remain particularly concerned at the continued deprivation of liberty of these Australian citizens - men, women and children - in North-East Syria,” it reads.
The UN experts also say their position that the “voluntary and human rights law compliant repatriation to Australia” of citizens is the “only legal and humane response to the “complex and precarious” situation.
The conditions “constitute a violation of a number of human rights, and meet the standard of torture or other cruel inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”, the letter said.
The camps are run by a non-state actor representing the Kurdish authority and food, water and health care is provided by humanitarian groups.
Australia’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Amanda Gorely, wrote in response to the UN letter that Australia “remains concerned about the situation in North-East Syria”.
She said: “The Government is aware of the presence of Australians in this region, including those detained in prisons and other detention centres.”
Ms Gorely said Australia’s ability to provide consular assistance to Syria is “limited” but the Australian government continues to “monitor conditions in the region.”
On Sunday, Foreign Minister Marise Payne was asked about whether the Coalition would act to conduct repatriations if the Coalition was re-elected.
“What we have to take into account is the safety of all Australians, including here, domestically, and these are matters that we continue to discuss within the government,” she told the ABC.
In February, Labor’s home affairs spokesperson Kristina Keneally pressed a senior department official at a Senate estimates hearing for answers over what it would take to conduct the repatriations.
She said the government had international obligations to uphold and “ignoring them” would risk the “mental and physical trauma or even death of Australian children”.
Senator Keneally’s office has been contacted about its response to the UN letter and whether Labor would adopt an alternative approach to the concerns.
