Belgium to Repatriate 37 Children and Mothers from Syrian Camps

While the start date of the repatriation operations for these 37 children and the dozen women is not known, the institutions of French-speaking Belgium are preparing to welcome and organize their social reintegration. Once in Belgium, the twelve mothers will be taken to a detention center. As for the children, they will be taken care of by the justice system, which will declare them minors in danger before hospitalizing them for a few days to ensure their good health.

"This time will allow them to be examined because many will suffer from deficiencies given their living conditions," explains Thomas Renard, a researcher at the Egmont Institute. A search will also be launched to contact their family in Belgium and ensure that these children can be welcomed in good conditions. "If this is not the case, they can be placed in foster families. They will also need to be given papers and an identity, an essential prerequisite for accessing social security or school," the researcher explains.

In the long term, these children from the Syrian camps will also be socially and psychologically supported while avoiding stigmatizing them, they will be considered as such in order to succeed in their social integration.

Indeed, 6 children returned in 2019, two years later, no radicalization problem has been observed as some might have believed. These are mainly children who have experienced war, who show resilience and try to rebuild themselves, we are reassured.