‘Small number’ of Isil fighters’ children brought back to Britain
BRITISH children of Isil fighters have been brought to the UK from Syria, the Home Office has admitted, as lawyers for Isil bride Shamima Begum attempt to bring back more.
Baroness Williams, the Home Office minister, disclosed yesterday that a “small number” of British children had left Syria and entered Britain via third countries.
It follows the death of Ms Begum’s newborn baby son, Jarrah. He was a British national even though she had been stripped of her citizenship and banned from the UK. He could have come to Britain if he had been taken to a British consul in a third country, according to the Home Office.
Baroness Williams made clear that Britain would not risk the lives of British officials in Syria trying to help those who had left the UK to join a proscribed terrorist organisation, but she added: “If a British child who has been in Syria is able to seek consular assistance outside of Syria, then we would work with local and UK authorities to facilitate their return if requested.”
Tasnime Akunjee, Ms Begum’s lawyer, is trying to bring at least three more British children born to fighters for Isil
‘Local authorities and the police can use existing safeguarding powers to protect returning children’
to the UK. All three are understood to have different mothers, one of whom has had her UK citizenship revoked.
In the wake of the death of Ms Begum’s son, Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, suggested the Government would explore ways of returning children from Syria to the UK.
About 76,000 women and children are living in the huge al-hawl refugee camp in the north of the country. Of these, more than 10,000 are believed to have travelled from outside Syria and Iraq, while about 1,000 are unaccompanied children. Many are said to be of European descent.
Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, has suggested that hundreds of children may have been born to “foreign fighters”. Of the 900 individuals who left Britain to join the so-called Islamic State, a significant number are said by the Home Office to be women.
The Home Office said it provided funding to assist local authorities and NHS trusts to carry out mental health and emotional well-being assessments on all children returning from Syria.
“Our support will be tailored to the needs of each individual child. Local authorities and the police can use existing safeguarding powers to protect returning children, support their welfare and reintegration … and minimise any threat they could pose within schools and to their local community.”