UN experts warned the Australian government to take action to rescue 46 Australian citizens, including 30 children, from camps in north-eastern Syria. In a letter released Sunday, UN experts described how the conditions in the camps constitute violations of human rights and meet the standard for torture.

The 46 Australian citizens are in the Al-Hol and Roj detention camps. Though it is not known for certain, the UN believes that the detainees traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight for the Islamic state. Stories concerning how the women and children arrived in the region vary, but human trafficking may have played a role.

In February 2022, 12 UN special rapporteurs wrote a joint letter to the Australian government raising concerns about conditions in the Syrian detention camps. Specifically, the UN special rapporteurs said individuals are being held and deprived of their liberty without any judicial process.

The letter outlines how both adults and children in the camps suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and are underweight, suffering from complex urgent health concerns. Malnourishment, lack of proper shelter and sanitary conditions also present those detained with serious health problems. While recognizing the difficult circumstances surrounding the camps, particularly as it relates to association with the Islamic state, the UN special rapporteurs urged the Australian government to repatriate the 46 citizens. The letter condemns the government’s lack of response to remedy “the sheer obliteration of the rights of Australian citizens resulting from their arbitrary deprivation of liberty.”

In an interview with ABC Insiders, Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne said the government did everything it could to dissuade and prevent Australians from traveling to the Syria region. Payne said the government was accounting for the safety of all Australians and is continuing to discuss the issue. Payne would not go into specifics but said of those detained in the camps, “they are Australians who have found themselves in this position because their parents took themselves to those war zones.”