Belgium’s Future Government to Determine Repatriation of Syrian Fighters

Brussels (Eurotoday): Belgian fighters captured in Syria could soon be repatriated, except that the final decision is now up to the next federal government. Minister of Foreign Affairs Bernard Quintin stressed that this decision, which is regarding the release of people detained in camps and prisons in Northern Syria, can be made only by a presidential government. He pointed out that due to continuous coalition negotiations, the present government does not have a mandate to conclude this matter.

Quintin is on a working trip in Turkey and met with the Turkish minister for foreign affairs, Hakan Fidan, yesterday to address the state of affairs in Syria. Bashar al-Assad was removed from his position by rebel groups last month. Currently, an interim government is in Syria. The Kurds, who, in fact, govern the north of the country and are in charge of the prisons and the refugee camps, worry in this period of transition, a resurgence of the IS and attacks by armed groups backed by Turkey. 

Syrian repatriation still in limbo amid coalition talks

At the moment, Belgium is in the process of forming a government, and as such, the current government has no legitimacy to go ahead with the repatriation. Bernard Quintin said that this issue cannot be resolved any further, at least not until the new government has been formed, which shall decide whether these people are going to be repatriated or not. For years, the position of the Belgian government concerning the return of the individuals who fought for terrorist groups during the Syrian civil war was rather ambiguous. While some argue for the repatriation as a way of ensuring these people are brought to book under Belgian laws, the other argument is that of security, seeing that these individuals pose a security threat. These programmes are still a topical problem because of the possibility of the radicals’ appearance and the problems with the rehabilitation of such individuals in Belgium. However, the question of the rights of detainees, especially women and children, held in camps in Syria has also become contentious recently.

Historical and political context of Belgium’s stance on Syrian fighters

The problem of the returned Syrian fighters has been an issue of debate in Belgium since it was discovered that a number of nationals had joined ISIS and other factions during the Syrian conflict. During the siege, a substantial number of Global players flocked to Syria to wage war with a particular focus on European countries, among them Belgium, which has been identified to have the third highest number of foreign fighters per capita in Europe. Slowly and gradually, over the years, as the Syrian