EVIDENCE SUBMISSION BY THE ALL-PARTY PARLIAMENTARY GROUP (APPG) ON TRAFFICKED BRITONS IN SYRIA TO THE FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE’S INQUIRY INTO THE UK’S INTERNATIONAL COUNTER-TERRORISM POLICY (CTE0014)

The APPG on Trafficked Britons in Syria is pleased to submit this evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee’s (Committee) inquiry into the UK’s International Counter-Terrorism Policy. This submission addresses question 7 of the terms of reference laid out by the inquiry: What has been the effectiveness of the FCDO in leading HMG’s counterterrorism approach across government? Where can these efforts be improved?

This submission concerns the unlawful and indefinite detention of British nationals detained in North East Syria (NES) and its detrimental impact on our national security and the fight against international terrorism. Based on extensive evidence gathered during the APPG’s inquiry, the APPG recommends that the Committee call on the Government to take urgent steps to repatriate all British nationals detained in NES. This is necessary to prevent a resurgence of ISIS, ensure justice and accountability for ISIS crimes, investigate trafficking and support victims, and protect British children.

SITUATION IN DETENTION CAMPS IN NES

1. Approximately 60,000 women and children are unlawfully and indefinitely detained in two open-air camps in NES for presumed but unproven links to the Islamic State (ISIS). They are held by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).[1]

2. Current information indicates there are about 25 British family units detained in NES; over half are children and some 30 percent are women.[2] Evidence submitted to the APPG indicates that at least 63 percent of British women now detained in NES may have been trafficked into or within Syria or Iraq by ISIS.[3]

3. Evidence received by the APPG indicates that the United Kingdom (UK) has adopted a blanket policy to refuse to repatriate any British adult who they say “travelled to Syria of their own volition”, stating that it will only consider repatriating unaccompanied or orphaned children.[4]

UK ISOLATED IN REFUSAL TO REPATRIATE NATIONALS

1. The UK Government is isolated among its security allies in its refusal to repatriate British families from NES. 38 countries have now repatriated many or most of their nationals. The last two years have seen a surge of repatriations – 2022 saw a 60 percent increase in repatriation as compared to 2021, and an 84 percent increase compared to 2020.[5] In the last 12 months, countries such as Canada, France, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, Tajikistan, Russia, and Sweden have repatriated their nationals.

NATIONAL SECURITY CONCERNS RAISED BY THE UK’S APPROACH

i)      Risks Of Re-Trafficking by ISIS

1. There is compelling evidence that British nationals, including children, were trafficked by ISIS to and within Syria and Iraq. Of the British nationals currently detained in NES who were not born there, almost half were children at the time of travel and therefore likely to be victims of trafficking. The US Government highlights that ISIS uses trafficking as a tactic, with victims “subjected [...] to forced marriage, sexual slavery, rape, and domestic servitude.”[6]

2. The UK Government failed to take adequate action to prevent vulnerable British women and girls from being groomed and coerced into travelling to Syria. UK public bodies failed to identify at-risk individuals, failed to notify the parents and guardians of young girls who were being groomed, and failed to prevent women and girls, many of whom were underage or known to be at risk, from leaving the country.

3. The UK Government is failing to protect British nationals from re-trafficking by ISIS. Evidence presented to the APPG highlighted how the desperation of women and children to escape the dire conditions of detention camps put them at serious risk of exploitation and trafficking. In March 2021, the Danish Security and Intelligence Service confirmed that at least 30 children who were detained in NES had been kidnapped by ISIS to be trained by the organisation.[7]

ii) Risk of Collapse of Detention Facilities

4. There is a real risk of the disintegration and collapse of detention camps and prisons. Tens of thousands of people are held in the detention facilities in NES, severely stretching the capacity of Kurdish forces. A number of security experts warned of the possibility of mass break-outs from the camps and prisons. In October 2019, Ain Issa Camp collapsed after shelling reportedly caused camp guards to flee. At least 750 detainees suspected of affiliation with ISIS reportedly escaped.[8] The AANES has called Al Hol camp a “ticking time bomb” that is out of its control.[9] Kurdish authorities do not have the resources to manage the detention facilities indefinitely, nor should they be expected to.

5. Collapse of the detention facilities in NES would create significant national security implications. US security expert Chris Harnisch said that if the detention facilities collapse “ISIS would derive great benefit from bolstering its ranks with combat hardened loyalists who spent the past few years behind bars or in displaced persons camps.”[10] This could eventually pose risks to the UK.

iii) Risks of ISIS Resurgence

6. The continued unlawful detention of thousands of women and children in abhorrent conditions is a propaganda gift to ISIS. In their submission to the APPG’s inquiry, former director of counter-terrorism at the MI6 Richard Barrett and Head of Responding to Violent Extremism at the European Institute of Peace Paul Jordan stated that “currently ISIS are using al-Hol as propaganda almost daily.”[11] More recently, Jonathan Hall KC, the Government’s Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, said on 27 February 2023 that the UK Government’s policy could fuel grievances that could be exploited by ISIS and similar groups: "If the UK stood alone, then “Europe’s Guantanamo” would soon become ‘Britain’s Guantanamo’. This is a factor that cannot, I think, be discounted, when talking about longer term risk to the UK.”[12]

7. The presence of thousands of detainees suspected of affiliation with ISIS in insecure detention facilities is a potential resource for ISIS as it seeks to rebuild its capacity. Large scale prison breaks to free alleged fighters have already occurred. In January 2022, ISIS attacked a prison in Hasakeh which held around 850 boys as well as thousands of adult men. British and US military support was required to reinforce Kurdish forces and almost 500 people were killed in the attack.[13] The UN has since reported that between 100 and 300 fighters escaped and may have been involved in subsequent ISIS attacks in Iraq.[14] Speaking at the recent Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS Ministerial Opening Session on 8 June 2023, Secretary Blinken said: “Failure to repatriate foreign terrorist fighters risks the possibility that they could again take up arms and attempt to restore ISIS’s so-called “caliphate,” terrorize communities that we’re working to stabilize and rebuild, and potentially threaten our homelands… Leaving these children in camps condemns them to lives marked by danger, the denial of basic health care, the denial of education – the denial of hope.”[15]

“DERELICTION OF DUTIES”: UNDERMINIG THE INTERNATIONAL FIGHTS AGAINST TERRORISM

1. While the UK Government continues to claim national security concerns drives its policy, security experts told the APPG that the UK Government’s policy weakens trust in Britain as a reliable security partner. Richard Barrett, the former director of global counter-terrorism at MI6, told the APPG that “trust of the UK’s suitability as a security partner has been eroded considerably” and if the UK Government continues down this path, it will be deemed “in dereliction of [its] duties on the international stage.”

2. The UK’s policy of citizenship deprivation is seen as a failure to take responsibility and an attempt to shift responsibility for managing the issue onto other countries – often those with less resource to manage the risks. US officials have criticised the UK’s reliance on citizenship stripping as a “dereliction of responsibility to expect the [SDF] to solve this problem…or to simply wash one’s hands of the problem altogether.”[16]

3. The US Government continues to encourage other states to repatriate their nationals, citing the risk of ISIS resurgence as a key deciding factor. Representatives of the US have said that they are “frustrated” with the UK’s failure to take back its detainees and their families.[17]  The US Secretary of State Anthony J. Blinken has stated that repatriations  from NES are the “only durable solution” for national and global security.

FOSTERING IMPUNITY AND HINDERING ACCESS TO JUSTICE

1. Where appropriate, the UK is capable of investigating and prosecuting returning UK nationals who may have committed crimes. The former Director of Public Prosecutions for England and Wales, Lord (Ken) Macdonald QC, told the APPG that the UK’s criminal justice system is well equipped to deal with these cases, noting that the UK has “some of the most elaborate, extensive counter-terrorism legislation in the fair trial world.”[18] Other governments have successfully investigated and prosecuted repatriated nationals, including the US, which has offered support to other countries on the matter of repatriation and prosecution.[19]

2. The UK’s refusal to repatriate its nationals risks obstructing justice for the victims of ISIS. The APPG is concerned by public statements by the UK Government expressing support for prosecutions of British nationals in the region. Experts told the inquiry that there is no realistic prospect of fair trials in the region. Lord Macdonald told the APPG the idea of British nationals being tried in Iraq or NES was “completely preposterous.”[20]

CONCLUSION

Based on the evidence received during the inquiry, the APPG concluded that the only way to prevent a resurgence of ISIS, ensure justice and accountability for ISIS crimes, investigate trafficking and support victims, and protect British children, is to repatriate all British men, women and children detained in NES.

June 2023