UN rights chief: 55,000 ISIS fighters and their families detained in Syria, Iraq

UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said on Monday that 55,000 former ISIS fighters, including foreigners, and their families detained in Syria and Iraq should face fair prosecution or be freed.

UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said on Monday that 55,000 former ISIS fighters, including foreigners, and their families detained in Syria and Iraq should face fair prosecution or be freed.

States “must assume responsibility for their nationals” and should not inflict statelessness on fighters’ children who have already suffered so much, Bachelet told the UN Human Rights Council as it opened a three-week session in Geneva.

Bachelet also called for countries to deport family members of suspected foreign fighters in Syria, including some 29,000 foreign children of ISIS extremists.

“Foreign family members should be deported,” she said, stressing that countries under no circumstances should render people, and especially children, stateless.