France, under pressure from international organizations and families, repatriated 15 women and 32 children held in jihadist prison camps in northeastern Syria on Tuesday, permanently ending its “case-by-case” policy, AFP reported.

“The minors have been handed over to child protection services and will be under medical and social control,” the French Foreign Ministry, which managed the operation, said. And adults are now in the hands of competent judicial authorities.

It is the third large-scale repatriation after 5 July 2022, when France returned 16 mothers and 35 minors, and 20 October, when 15 women and 40 children were allowed to return.

It “signals the end of the case-by-case approach,” said Marie Doze, a lawyer who advocated for their return.

The women and children repatriated on Tuesday were held alongside Islamic State (IS) jihadists in the Kurdish-run Roj camp, about fifteen kilometers from the Iraqi-Turkish border.

The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office said that eight of the 15 women repatriated on Tuesday for whom search warrants were issued are in custody.

The other seven, for whom an arrest warrant was issued, were charged later in the day by anti-terrorism judges at the Paris Magistrate’s Court and remanded in custody, a court source said.

None of the women are known for direct criminal activity at this stage, a source close to the case said, explaining that most of them had gone to the area to follow their husbands.

France has been particularly affected by jihadist attacks, especially in 2015. Therefore, until the summer of last year, she carried out specific repatriations of orphans or minors whose mothers agreed to give up parental rights.

But under the pressure of various organizations, he had to change his policy.

This third operation follows last week’s condemnation by the UN Committee against Torture, which was brought to the attention of the families of these women and children in 2019.

The latter argued that the refusal to repatriate these persons is a violation of the Convention against Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.