A group of 19 women and children suspected of having ties to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) returned to Australia on Tuesday, with six women and 13 children landing in Sydney and Melbourne. The Australian Federal Police said no arrests have been made but investigations are continuing.
This is the second repatriation this month for Australian women and children from Syria. Earlier this month, four women and 13 children also returned, three of whom were arrested upon landing.
Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke stressed that the government is not providing any support to this group. “These are people who made the terrible choice of joining a dangerous terrorist organization and placed their children in unspeakable circumstances,” he said.
Australian women began traveling to Syria to marry ISIL members from 2012; some are believed to have been taken against their will. At its peak in 2015, ISIL controlled territory roughly the size of Britain across Syria and Iraq.
The group’s return has sparked outrage among some sections of Australian society. Local media reported a heavy police presence at Melbourne airport, where a scuffle broke out as the women and children were taken out via a side exit.
Australia is among Western countries that have been cautious about repatriating citizens who traveled to the Middle East to join ISIL roughly a decade ago. France and Britain have also expressed opposition to allowing former ISIL members to return. In 2022, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child criticized France for failing to repatriate children born to French citizens in Syria, saying it violated their right to life and subjected them to inhuman treatment. Meanwhile, Britain stripped citizenship from citizen Shamima Begum in 2019 on national security grounds.
In February, the Australian government issued a temporary entry ban for a woman in Syria, preventing her repatriation until February 2028. Her child — though not banned — chose to remain with her, and the family is appealing the decision.
Afzal Ashraf, an international relations and security expert at Loughborough University, said the risks from returnees should be assessed in a balanced way: “There will be security challenges, as these individuals may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). But statistically, their return does not greatly increase the risk of terrorism — the risk of death from terrorism is far lower than from traffic accidents. The threat can be mitigated through comprehensive mental health support and social reintegration, while monitoring dangerous ideologies they may carry. It should also be remembered that ISIL killed more Muslims than Westerners.”
