Swiss Review 1/2020

Swiss Review / January 2020 / No.1 21 prosecuted in the context of the federal law prohibiting al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. One solution adoptedby the Swiss authorities is to strip dual nationals of their Swiss cit- izenship. Such a procedure is currently underway against a Swisswoman of dual nationality fromGeneva, imprisoned in Syria along with a child. In September, Switzerland re- voked the Swiss citizenship of another dual national sen- tenced to imprisonment two years ago for having helped two fighters to reach the warzone in Syria and Iraq. Wives of Islamic State fighters wait with their children in the crowded Syrian refugee camp Al-Hawl to be de­ ported to another camp or to be reunit- ed with relatives. Photos: Keystone archive image, June 2019 the repatriation of childrenhas failed above all because the mothers are not ready to let their children leave without them,” explains the FDFA. The president of Lawyers without Borders, Saskia Dit- isheim considers this position to be “unsustainable and dangerous”. She highlights that “for some Swiss nationals now held in Syria, radicalisation and allegiance to Daesh took place on Swiss territory”. For this lawyer, Switzerland would gain from repatriating these people and putting them on trial, “notably because of the essential informa- tion they could provide for the authorities”. She advocates the immediate repatriation of non-combatant Swiss women and children. Jean-Paul Rouiller recognises that “the question of chil- dren concerns Switzerland, like other countries, on an eth- ical level”. However, he is calling for the matter to be con- sidered more closely. The specialist points out that IS has recruited children from six years old and that it has iden- tified thousands of minors in the context of a policy of re- cruitment. “Minors who have committed crimes will have to be tried, but they remain victims,” summarises Balci. Ac- cording to the ICRC, children must only be detained as a last resort. As for Swisswomen, the head of the analysis groupwork- ing in conjunctionwith the GCSP recalls that they could be At times, there were more than 70,000 relatives of Islamic state fighters interred in the Syrian camp Al-Hawl; among them, ten thousand women and children. Photos: Keystone archive image, March 2019