Baghdad Calls On States To Intensify Efforts To Repatriate IS Fighters' Children From Iraq

Iraq's Foreign Ministry on Monday called on countries to repatriate children of nationals who had previously traveled to Iraq to join the Islamic State terrorist group (IS, banned in Russia) during the war and who are currently being held in Baghdad's custody

DAMASCUS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th July, 2019) Iraq's Foreign Ministry on Monday called on countries to repatriate children of nationals who had previously traveled to Iraq to join the Islamic State terrorist group (IS, banned in Russia) during the war and who are currently being held in Baghdad's custody.

"In this regard, the Foreign Ministry calls upon all States to intensify efforts to receive their nationals who are children of the members of Da'esh [IS] in addition to terrorist children who are placed with their mothers in Iraqi rehabilitation services, in addition to those whose sentences have finished," the ministry said in a statement.

The Iraqi Foreign Ministry added that it was directing efforts to set up bilateral meetings abroad with states through its missions to facilitate the process.

The ministry added that it had repatriated 473 children so far of various nationalities, including Azerbaijani, Belarusian, Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Tajik, Turkish, Russian and Ukrainian.

On Thursday, 33 Russian children aged between 1-4 years were returned home from Iraq on board a special flight of the Russian Emergencies Ministry. According to Iraq's Foreign Ministry, the process occurred after taking the necessary legal measures to ensure the children's sponsorship and protection of rights.