Stand. Sarah is a little French girl. She is an orphan and has been living with her older sister for three years in the Roj camp, in northeastern Syria. Sarah is traumatized to have seen her mother and brother die before her eyes.
Sohan, 8 years old, is a little French boy. He thinks of France, under the tent that protects him as best as possible from temperatures approaching -10°C. Despite his anorak numb from the cold, he cannot fall asleep. A lot is running through his head: one day he dreams of going to school, in his country, in France.
Sohan’s best friend is 6 years old: her name is Inès, she is French, just like him. She buried her mother near the camp four months ago. Her mother had been ill for three years and Inès, helpless, watched her die. Sohan cannot comfort her and Inès speaks no more: neither her language, nor ours, nor any other.
Like 200 other French children, Sarah, Sohan and Inès are currently imprisoned in the Roj camp. They have nothing to do with what happens to them and pay for crimes they didn’t commit. Their fate was sacrificed first by their parents and then by France’s refusal to repatriate them.
The victims
Sarah, Sohan and Inès are victims: they chose not to go to Syria to join Daesh, or to be born in a war zone, or to grow up in a prison camp.
Mr President, you know: these French children are innocent. Why do you refuse to free them from an endless nightmare? Almost all of them entered these camps before they were 6 years old and survived there under appalling conditions.
They suffer from malnutrition, dehydration, diseases and do not benefit from appropriate care. They are not trained and only have barbed wire as their horizon.
In 2021, 100 children died in the camps in northeast Syria. Are we going to make children pay for their parents’ crimes? Are we going to turn a blind eye to this “Guantanamo for kids”?
since 1er In January, 77 mothers and children, prisoners of the Roj camp, returned to their country. Among them 63 Europeans and no French. For fourteen months, France has not repatriated anyone, not even the orphan she created by refusing her mother’s medical repatriation.
Save, love and protect
Mr President, do not let these children slowly die out in these camps, do not turn them into ghosts: they breathe, hope, think and dream. Do not allow a destructive hatred to enter them that could turn against us. It is our duty to save them, love them and protect them: while their youth is stolen from them, their families are waiting for them here, in France.
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