The family’s lawyer, Doris Hawelka, announced this in a broadcast on Friday following a decision by the Federal Administrative Court (BVwG). The Foreign Ministry had previously refused to bring home the children and their mother who were housed in a Kurdish internment camp.
G. disappeared from her parents’ home at the end of June 2014 as a 17-year-old in order, according to the authorities, to join the Islamic State (IS). She had two sons with two terrorist militia fighters and has been living in Kurdish internment camps since the defeat of IS in 2019. At that time, the family turned to the Foreign Ministry to request the return of their daughter and grandchildren. But the ministry only agreed to bring the children to Austria, but not their mother.
Boys are Austrian citizens
The identity of the two boys had already been proven with a DNA test and they are considered Austrian citizens. However, G. and her parents refused to return without their daughter, citing the children’s well-being. After further efforts by the parents were delayed by the corona pandemic and ultimately failed, Hawelka finally submitted a formal application for repatriation and, in September 2023, obtained through the Federal Administrative Court that the Foreign Ministry had to issue a notice instead of informal rejections.
The result was negative in October 2023: the woman voluntarily joined the IS terrorist militia despite travel warnings. Conclusion: “There is clearly a particularly high degree of personal indebtedness.” During the hearing before the BVwG at the end of June 2024, a representative of the Foreign Ministry emphasized that the repatriation of G. was not the responsibility of the ministry and that the safety of the consular authorities’ staff should also be taken into account when providing assistance.
Hawelka said in the run-up to the APA hearing that the focus should be on the welfare of the child. The mother is the children’s only remaining caregiver; the sons are severely traumatized by their previous life and the circumstances in the camps. “This last support should not be taken away from them – also with a view to integration into Austria.”
“Joint repatriation to Austria”
Hawelka appealed against the Foreign Ministry’s decision – with success: “A joint repatriation to Austria must be achieved,” she explained on Friday. Due to the exceptional circumstances in the camp in northern Syria, which endangered the life and physical integrity of the woman and her children, and taking into account the best interests of the child, the BVwG came to the conclusion that G. based on the positive obligation to grant the right to Entry is to be repatriated.
“The BVwG followed the argument that the Foreign Ministry had not yet sufficiently taken the right to the welfare of the child, which is guaranteed under constitutional law,” said Hawelka. The consideration of the child’s best interests of the two minors also speaks in favor of the mother’s repatriation.
The lawyer had already ensured that an international arrest warrant against G. that had existed since 2015 was lifted. According to the Ministry of Justice, extradition of the young woman was not possible because there is no corresponding agreement with Syria or the Kurdish regional administration that runs the camp.
In the run-up to the trial, political scientist Thomas Schmidinger, who was invited as a witness, tried to explain to the Ö1 program “Hörbilder” why G. converted to Islam and traveled to Syria a few months before her disappearance from Austria. And he pointed out that the young woman had probably fallen for IS propaganda. Her expressed desire to help children in the civil war-torn Syria was clearly initiated by IS.
“She would rather be imprisoned in Austria”
At the trial itself, the expert who specializes in the region said that G. was aware that she was facing criminal proceedings in her homeland in connection with allegations of membership in a terrorist organization. In the camp where she currently lives, she and her sons are in a prison-like state with no end in sight. “She prefers to sit in custody in Austria and know when her detention is over,” explained Schmidinger.
“She is aware that there are criminal proceedings in Austria,” Hawelka also emphasizes. It is completely undisputed in the judiciary that traveling to IS territory simply to live there should be considered an act of contribution. “But there is no evidence that she took part in fighting or acts of violence.”
In an initial statement on Friday, the Foreign Ministry pointed out that the issue touched on “legal questions of fundamental importance” on which there is still no supreme court case law. “It is currently being thoroughly analyzed by experts in the Foreign Ministry together with the Financial Procuratorate. Further steps are being examined.” If an appeal is declared admissible, the BVwG’s decision can be appealed within six weeks.
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