UN experts urge Canada to repatriate seriously ill national from Syria

Geneva, Feb 11 (IANS) A group of UN human rights experts on Thursday called on Canada to urgently repatriate from Syria a woman who has life-threatening illnesses.

The woman, named Kimberly Polman and a Canadian national, has been detained at various camps since March 2019 absent any legal charges or legal process. She is currently held at Roj camp in Syria's northeast under conditions "meeting the threshold of torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment," the experts said.

According to the experts, she traveled to Syria in 2015 at the behest of her future husband whom she met online, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Victims or potential victims of trafficking should not be placed in situations that expose them to multiple forms of abuses," the experts added in a statement.

"The failure of their home State to protect individuals in such situations perpetuates and contributes to further victimisation of those who have already experienced violence and trauma," the statement said.

The experts pointed out that the Canadian government has not heeded her family's requests for repatriation, for access to immediate medical health, or for assistance in replacing her Canadian passport, a prerequisite to any return to Canada.

"The Canadian authorities' outright refusal to assist her so that she has urgent access to healthcare, or at the very least to facilitate the transfer of money from her family so that she is able to improve her health and living conditions, is a clear violation of her right to health and could amount to violations of the right to life and the prohibition of cruel and inhumane treatment," the experts said.

The experts, including the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, and the UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, said they have been in contact with the Canadian government since autumn 2021.