The High Court has rejected a legal application to repatriate the Australian wives and children of Islamic State fighters who are being held in refugee camps in Syria.
The High Court on Monday ruled against a case brought by Save the Children seeking to force the government to arrange for the return of the women and children.
In June, the Federal Court ruled that the government had no control over his detention, prompting the advocacy group to seek special leave to appeal to the High Court.
Save the Children acknowledged that the rejection of that request on Monday “marks the end of a long legal battle with the federal government.”
Save the Children Australia chief executive Mat Tinkler said the government still has a responsibility to repatriate citizens even if the court doesn’t see it that way.
“We respect the High Court’s decision but remain deeply disappointed by the outcome. These innocent Australian children and their mothers should be returned home after five long years trapped in the camps,” he said on Monday.
“We will continue to defend the rights of these vulnerable children, who have been ignored by their own government.”
There are 34 Australians being held in detention camps in northern Syria run by the Autonomous Administration of North-East Syria (AANES) and its defence arm, the Syrian Democratic Forces.
There are 34 Australians being held in detention camps in northern Syria (pictured: a woman in al-Hol camp in north-east Syria)
Many of those living in the camp cannot get fresh food, clean water or medicine (pictured: a child hiding in Al-Roj in 2023)
Syria’s Roj and Al Hol camps are home to some 6,000 foreign children of IS fighters displaced five years ago following the militant group’s collapse in 2017.
Conditions in the camps have been described as dire, with food and water shortages amid overcrowding and widespread violence and insecurity.
The Albanese government returned four women and 13 children in October 2022 and the Morrison government repatriated a group in 2019.
