Iraqi authorities are taking steps to balance security concerns with international laws and have now revealed their plans revolving around the foreign wives and children of the members of the Islamic State.
As Fox News reported, Shia al-Sudani, the Iraqi minister of Labor and Social Affairs who also takes charge of childcare, said: "We are holding 500 wives of ISIS — all foreigners — and their children, which makes 1,500 total."
"And some of the ISIS wives are pregnant," added he added.
Sudani also mentioned that there were "many communications through our ministry and the court system" with regard to the protocol that should be followed after their Mosul ousting back in July 2017.
As per the orders by authorities in Iraq, children aged three years and below are to stay with their mothers in detention centers. Those in the age group of four to 14 will stay in government orphanages until certain agreements are reached between their respective embassies before they can be "handed off" to their home nations.
Iraq also made a major amendment to a 1980 law to accommodate the foreign children in government orphanages. The law had been made under former ruler Saddam Hussain and stated that minors of Iraq or Palestinian origin only would be allowed in state orphanages.
But the authorities are now dealing with children from 20 different nations. Sudani said, "We deal with the kids as victims. They had no fault in what happened. They will be taken care of and not blamed. And we have prepared an integrated program to de-radicalize the kids away from the extremist mindset and ideology," he added.
The authorities are being much stricter with their protocol about the foreign wives of ISIS members. The women will face trials in Iraqi courts and not their respective home countries, to grasp the severity of their involvement with the group.
"They will be given a fair trial in the court system," said al-Sudani.
What might await the adolescent males above 14 still had Human Rights communities concerned as Iraqi officials revealed that they comply with international laws when it comes to detaining such children.
"We are concerned that torture may be utilized in coercing confessions from these adolescents," said Dr. Homer Venters, the director of programs of Physicians for Humans Rights, a US-based non-profit human rights NGO.
"Captured children forced into fighting with ISIS are also victims of human rights violations, including physical and mental trauma and should be treated as such," added Venters.
IBTimes US also reported that an anonymous source from Baghdad revealed how complicated the issue of children was in this scenario, owing to the fact that in multiple cases, the father's identity was unknown. And for those who nationalities were already confirmed, unresolved diplomatic issues could be a problem.
"Baghdad is in the process of negotiating with their countries of origin to have most of them repatriated, but there is a lot of resistance," shared the source. "Most of these countries simply don't want them back."
Sudani also revealed that these foreign wives and children were being kept at a camp in al-Rusafa, where they remained separated from non-ISIS families.
Tuva Raanes Bogsnes, a spokeswoman for The Norwegian Refugee Council, said, "It is critical to remember that, even when someone is proven to be a member of a terrorist organization, their family members are not guilty by association."
