At its Human Rights meeting from 9 to 11 March, the Committee of Ministers ends its supervision of the execution of the case of H.F. and Others v. France, which concerns a violation of the right to enter the territory of the State of which a person is a national, due to the absence of appropriate safeguards against arbitrariness in the examination of repatriation requests of three French children and their respective mothers, held since 2019 in camps in north-eastern Syria (Article 3 § 2 of Protocol No. 4).
The Committee of Ministers first recalled that the French authorities had complied with the indication given by the Court by re-examining the requests for repatriation submitted by the applicants’ relatives. It also underlined that, since the last examination of the case in March 2024, the authorities had continued to respond explicitly to all requests for repatriation, in an individualised and reasoned manner, while taking into account the best interests of the children.
The Committee further noted with interest that the French authorities had organised a new repatriation operation on 16 September 2025, enabling the return of ten French children and three adult women. Lastly, it noted with satisfaction that the examination of requests for the repatriation of French children was now surrounded by effective safeguards against arbitrariness, the development of the case-law of the French administrative courts having confirmed the existence of an independent review mechanism in line with the requirements identified by the Court.
