Children’s rights, Counter-terrorism Legislation and Racialized Security Goals

The Case of Ms Shamima Begum and of the Foreign ISIS Children Detained Indefinitely and Illegally in Northeast Syria

Abstract

After the territorial defeat of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) thousands of women and children who were associated with ISIS have been interned and detained in various camps in northeast Syria. The present article analyses the story of Ms Shamima Begum, a British teenager who, in 2015, was groomed and trafficked to Syria to marry an ISIS fighter and the case of thousands of foreign children, who are currently detained indefinitely, for their perceived links with the terrorist organisation.  The investigation will be carried through the lens of international law by exploring whether the tenets of children’s and human rights have been side-lined in favour of short- term security concerns, possibly buoyed by practices of discrimination.