Despite concerns that the returnees may pose a security threat to Finland, the Foreign Ministry emphasised that the decision to evacuate former Daesh women and their children was based on data from the National Bureau of Investigation and the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service.
Finland has evacuated six Finnish children and two mothers from the al-Hol displacement camp in northeast Syria, the newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet reported.
This marks the first time that Finland has repatriated so-called Daesh* mothers, as other Finns fleeing from the camp in northeastern Syria have made their way back to Finland on their own. The Foreign Ministry had previously fetched only two orphaned children. The current operation was conducted together with German authorities, which also repatriated German children and mothers from al-Hol.
Finland's Foreign Ministry explained that this is in the best interests of the children. The longer the children remain in the camps, without proper protection and education, the more difficult it will be to counter radical extremism, the ministry said.
Foreign Ministry special representative Jussi Tanner said it was important to return the displaced children to Finland sooner rather than later. According to him, in another scenario, they will return five to fifteen years from now.
Tarja Mankkinen of the Interior Ministry's anti-radicalisation unit, said officials would investigate if there is reason to suspect complicity…
