A Norwegian woman in the al-Hol refugee camp east of Syria asks Norwegian authorities for help to get her two children aged two and four safely back to Norway.
NRK has met the Norwegian woman who left Norway six years ago.
She claims she ran away from a marriage the family had arranged and instead she settled with the Norwegian IS warrior Bastian Vasquez, who died in 2015. She claims she was taken into Syria against her will and that she was just a mother and maid in the terror group IS.
One of the children has a chronic lung disease and both have diarrhea.
“I regret that I trusted the person I trusted, and made a mistake. I just want to do good again, if possible. So please help me. I just want to give my children a better future,” she says to NRK.
But local Kurdish authorities cannot release foreign families who have been affiliated with IS without their home country having control over them.
State Secretary Jens Frølich Holte (H) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that it is a very demanding situation. There are several European countries in the same situation, and Norway cooperates with them on how to handle the situation in the best possible way.
“According to the UN, we are obliged to accept Norwegian citizens who want to go back to Norway. If you want help and consular assistance, then you need to contact the foreign service. We have not registered such a request. In this particular situation, the situation on the ground is so complex and risky that we do not risk Norwegian diplomats entering these areas,” says Holte to NRK.
More than 60 children have died in the camp in al-Hol since December. According to the UN, the conditions in the camp are very poor. There is not enough food, water, medicines, tents or facilities.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
