Why are Western governments not retrieving detained minor nationals from Al-Hol’s purgatory-like conditions? This article shows, under international human rights law, that the status of detained children as rights bearers is uncontroversial, as is their right to positive protection. We raise issues from recent debate on the securitisation of geopolitics in the relationship between the Middle East and the West, to demonstrate that there is little randomness, accidental, or arbitrary in the detained children’s suffering. The suffering is a product of the socio-economic arrangement that characterises our prevailing world order—and that is connected to international human rights law’s “civilising mission”. We conclude by asking: How is the legitimacy of the human rights regime sustained despite fundamental inconsistencies and failures to realise its purpose?
Abu-Lughod, L. (2013). Do Muslim Women Need Saving. Harvard University Press. https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674726338
Adler, M. (2020). Justice in the Digital State: Assessing the Next Revolution in Administrative Justice. Journal of Law & Society, 47, 170-174. https://doi.org/10.1111/jols.12219
Agamben, G. (1998). Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life. Stanford University Press.
Allen, L. (2013). The Rise and Fall of Human Rights: Cynicism and Politics in Occupied Palestine. Stanford University Press.
Amanda, S. (2019, February 18). Shamima Begum: What Does the Perfect Victim Look Like? Media Diversified. https://mediadiversified.org/2019/02/18/what-does-the-perfect-victim-look-like
Arendt, H. (1951). The Origins of Totalitarianism. Harcourt, Bace & Co.
Asad, T. (1996). On Torture, or Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Treatment. Social Research, 63, 1081-1092.
Cingranelli, D. L., & Kalmick, C. (2020). Yes, Societal Religiosity and Muslim Governments Threaten Human Rights. HRQ, 42, 933-958. https://doi.org/10.1353/hrq.2020.0047
Doucet, L. (2018). Syria & the CNN Effect: What Role Does the Media Play in Policy-Making? Daedalus (Cambridge, Mass.), 147, 141-157. https://doi.org/10.1162/DAED_a_00480
Downing, L. (2021). “She’s Not Likeable”: Shamima Begum, Sex Stereotypes, and the Scourge of Emotionalism in Public Discourse. https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/perspective/shamima-begum.aspx
Fidler, D. P. (2001). Return of the Standard of Civilization, the International Human Rights Law in Practice. Chicago Journal of International Law, 2, 137-157.
Fish, C. (2019, March 1). “ISIS Brides” and State Failure to Screen for Human Trafficking in Violation of International Law and Transnational Anti-Trafficking Regimes. Opinio Juris. http://opiniojuris.org/2019/03/01/isis-brides-and-state-failure-to-screen-for-human-trafficking-in-violation-of-international-law-and-transnational-anti-trafficking-regimes
Government Offices of Sweden, Ministry of Justice (2019). Sweden Hosted Expert Meeting on Tribunal. https://ycxgtx3zexvulcqaxo4sc7h7vgmr2f77oxxa333xfbonafvb3jta.arweave.net/wK5p33kl60WKALu5IXz_qZkdF_917g3vdyhc0Bah2mY
Greenberg, J. (2020). Law, Politics, and Efficacy at the European Court of Human Rights. American Ethnologist, 47, 417-431. https://doi.org/10.1111/amet.12971
Hall, S. (1992). The West and the Rest: Discourse and Power. In Essential Essays (Vol. 2, pp. 185-224). Duke University Press.
Hubbard, B., & Méhet, C. (2020, May 31). Western Countries Leave Children of ISIS in Syrian Camps. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/world/middleeast/isis-children-syria-camps.html
Human Rights Watch (HRW) (2019, February 12). Tunisia: Scant Help to Bring Home ISIS Members’ Children 200 Held in Squalid Camps and Prisons in Libya, Syria, Iraq. https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/02/12/tunisia-scant-help-bring-home-isis-members-children
ICJ, International Court of Justice (2001). LaGrand Case (Germany v United States of America), Judgment of 27 June 2001 at [65-78]. https://www.icj-cij.org/public/files/case-related/104/104-20010627-JUD-01-00-EN.pdf
ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross (2020). Children in War. https://www.icrc.org/en/publication/4383-children-war
Jackson, L. B. (2019). Framing British “Jihadi Brides”: Metaphor and the Social Construction of I.S. Women. Terrorism and Political Violence, 33, 1733-1751. https://doi.org/10.1080/09546553.2019.1656613
Jacoby, T. A. (2015). Jihadi Brides at the Intersections of Contemporary Feminism. New Political Science, 37, 525-542. https://doi.org/10.1080/07393148.2015.1089028
Kennedy, D. (1997). Critique of Adjudication, Fin de Siècle. Harvard University Press.
Koskenniemi, M. (2001). The Gentle Civilizer of Nations: The Rise and Fall of International Law 1870-1960. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511494222
Mai, H. J. (2019, December 10). Why European Countries Are Reluctant to Repatriate Citizens Who Are Isis Fighters. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2019/12/10/783369673/europe-remains-reluctant-to-repatriate-its-isis-fighters-here-s-why
Malik, K. (2021, February 28). Britain Has a Moral and Legal Obligation to Shamima Begum. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/feb/28/britain-has-a-moral-and-legal-obligation-to-shamima-begum
Marks, S. (2011). Human Rights and Root Causes. The Modern Law Review, 74, 57-78. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.2010.00836.x
Martin, D. (2015). From Spaces of Exception to “Campscapes”: Palestinian Refugee Camps and Informal Settlements in Beirut. Political Geography, 44, 9-18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2014.08.001
Masters, M. (2020). Human Rights and British Citizenship: The Case of Shamima Begum as Citizen to Homo Sacer. Journal of Human Rights Practice, 12, 342. https://doi.org/10.1093/jhuman/huaa029
Milanovic, M. (2020, November 10). Repatriating the Children of Foreign Fighters and the Extraterritorial Application of Human Rights. EJIL: Talk! https://www.ejiltalk.org/repatriating-the-children-of-foreign-terrorist-fighters-and-the-extraterritorial-application-of-human-rights
Moyn, S. (2010). The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History. Harvard University Press.
Moyn, S. (2018). Not Enough: Human Rights in an Unequal World. Belknapp Press. https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674984806
Mustasaari, S. (2020a). Affective Constructions of Justice: ISIS-Families and the Law in the Finnish Public Debate. Oñati Socio-Legal Series Forthcoming: Minority Families and the Law: Interactions of Ethnic, Religious, and Cultural Minorities with Law and State Institutions. https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl/0000-0000-0000-1159
Mustasaari, S. (2020b). Finnish Children or “Cubs of the Caliphate”? Jurisdiction and State “Response-Ability” in Human Rights Law, Private International Law and the Finnish Child Welfare Act. Oslo Law Review, 7, 22-45. https://doi.org/10.18261/ISSN.2387-3299-2020-01-03
Obregon, L. (2012). The Civilized and the Uncivilized. In B. Fassbender, & A. Peters (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the History of International Law (pp. 917-939). Oxford University Press.
Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) (2020, October 11). Syrian Arab Republic: North East Syria: Al Hol Camp as of 11 October 2020. Situation Report. https://reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/syrian-arab-republic-north-east-syria-al-hol-camp-11-october-2020
Orell, J. (2020, March 26). Koronavirus jäädytti suomalaislasten kotiutukset al-Holin leiriltä-tällä hetkellä on vain odotettava. Aamulehti. https://www.aamulehti.fi/a/d7eea258-28c7-44f8-8903-b1365fbb68bf
Pearson, E. (2020, October 13). Australian in Syria Need Government’s Help. Canberra Times. https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/10/13/australians-trapped-syria-need-governments-help
Porras, I. M. (1994). On Terrorism: Reflections on Violence and the Outlaw. Utah Law Review, 119, 143-143.
Rajagopal, B. (2013). Right to Development and Global Governance: Old and New Challenges Twenty-Five Years on. HRQ, 35, 893-909. https://doi.org/10.1353/hrq.2013.0063
Roth, K. (2020). The Dangerous Rise of Populism—Global Attacks on Human Rights Values. Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2017/country-chapters/global-4#
Sabbagh, D., & Bowcott, O. (2020, November 24). Javid Advised of “Hostile Public Sentiment” to Shamima Begum, Court Told. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/nov/24/shamima-begum-cannot-communicate-with-legal-team-court-told
Said, E. (1978). Orientalism. Pantheon Books.
Sandelowsky-Bosman, C., & Liefaard, T. (2020). Children Trapped in Camps in Syria, Iraq and Turkey: Reflections on Jurisdiction and State Obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Nordic Journal of Human Rights, 38, 141-158. https://doi.org/10.1080/18918131.2020.1792090
Slotte, P., & Halme-Tuomisaari, M. (2015). Revisiting the Origins of Human Rights. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316228074
Sontag, S. (2003). Regarding the Pain of Others (pp. 8-21). Picador. https://doi.org/10.3917/dio.201.0127
UN General Assembly (2000, May 25). Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict. https://www.refworld.org/docid/47fdfb180.html
UN Human Rights Committee (HRC) (2014, December 16). General Comment No. 35, Article 9 (Liberty and Security of Person). CCPR/C/GC/35. https://www.refworld.org/docid/553e0f984.html
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (2020, April 17). Recent Developments in Northwest Syria. Situation Report No. 12. https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/en/operations/stima/document/situation-report-12-recent-developments-northwest-syria-17-april-2020
UNICEF (2019, July 17). Unwanted, Exploited and Abused: Tens of Thousands of Children in Al-Hol Camp and Several Parts of Syria in Limbo amid Dire Humanitarian Needs. https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/unwanted-exploited-and-abused-tens-thousands-children-al-hol-camp-and-several-parts
United Nations (1963, April 24). Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b3648.html
Yacoubian, M. (2022, May 11). Al-Hol: Displacement Crisis Is a Tinderbox That Could Ignite ISIS 2.0 Growing Concern over the Dire Conditions in the Camp Has Galvanized High-Level Global Attention to Detention and Displacement in Northeast Syria. https://www.usip.org/publications/2022/05/al-hol-displacement-crisis-tinderbox-could-ignite-isis-20
Zaleski, C. (2019). “Purgatory” in Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. https://www.britannica.com/topic/purgatory-Roman-Catholicism