Human rights agency slams France’s ‘inhumane and degrading treatment’ of jihadists’ children
- France’s Human Rights Defender Jacques Toubon issues scathing statement alleging the country has violated the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
France must stop the “inhumane treatment” of children of jihadists stranded in Syria who are not being allowed to come to the country, its rights ombudsman said Wednesday, warning that Paris was flouting its UN obligations.
The statement by France’s Human Rights Defender Jacques Toubon came as controversy intensifies over the reluctance of French authorities to take in the children of French citizens affiliated with Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists in Syria and Iraq.
“The French state needs to adopt effective measures allowing the halt to the inhumane and degrading treatment of children and their mothers and put an end to the violations of the rights of the child,” Toubon said.
He alleged violations of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which France is a signatory.
The human rights defender leads an independent state institution set up in 2011 and enshrined in the French constitution to defend people whose rights have been violated.
Toubon had been asked to give an opinion on the issue by the lawyers of several families with French citizens held in Syria and Iraq.