Paris, France

The European Court of Human Rights ruled on Wednesday that France must reconsider its refusals to accept the repatriation requests of two French women who joined the Islamic State in Syria together with their partners and the children they gave birth to there. 

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The court determined that France's reluctance to let the women and children to return to their country of origin violated their constitutional right to "enter the territory of the state of which (one) is a national." 

After France refused to let the daughters and grandchildren return, the parents of the two women took their case to the European court in Strasbourg. They are currently being held in camps in northeastern Syria that are managed by Kurds.

The families had argued that the women and children's lengthy incarceration in Syria breached their right to respect for family life by subjecting them to cruel and inhumane treatment. 

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France has long fought requests from human rights organisations for return of women who joined the Islamist terrorist group, claiming that it views them as "fighters" who should be punished where they are alleged to have committed crimes.

The court determined that because France "was not exercising its jurisdiction there," it should not be held accountable for the living conditions in the Syrian refugee camps.

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The verdict did not establish a broad right to repatriation, according to Nicolas Hervieu, a legal expert at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, because "France is not responsible for their life and bodily integrity in and of itself." 

Olivier Veran, a government spokesman, responded to the judgement by claiming that France had "not waited for the European court decision" to move forward and citing the July repatriation of 16 women and 35 children, some of whom were orphans, on chartered aircraft as evidence.

That action ran against France's general rule that mothers should not accompany children back home. 

According to rights organisations, 160 kids and 75 French women are still housed in the camps. According to Human Rights Watch, they are among the more than 40,000 foreign nationals in jail, most of whom are Iraqis.

(with inputs from agencies)