Strasbourg ( France ) - (AFP) - The European Court of Human Rights condemned France on Wednesday for failing to return the families of French jihadists from Syria , in a setback for Paris but not dedicating a "general right of return" to people still detained in Syrian camps.

"In implementing its ruling, the Court considers that the French government should resume consideration of the applicants' applications as soon as possible, with appropriate safeguards against arbitrariness," the European Court of Human Rights' Grand Chamber said.

The court, which is based in Strasbourg (eastern France), considered that "the refusal of a request for return submitted in this context must be the subject of an individual examination (...) by an independent body," without necessarily being a "judicial body."

Paris will have to pay €18,000 to one of the two plaintiff families and €13,200 to the other to cover costs and expenses.

The French Foreign Ministry announced that "the government took note of the decision of the European Court of Human Rights," stressing that "France did not wait for the court's decision to take action," expressing its readiness to renew the repatriation of French nationals "whenever circumstances permit."

"It is the end of an abusive act," said Marie Doucet, one of the lawyers for the four complainants, parents of two young French women stranded in camps in Syria with their children.

They unsuccessfully asked the French authorities to return their two daughters before resorting to European justice, given that their daughters and grandchildren are being subjected in the Syrian camps to "bad and humiliating humane treatment."

The two young French women left France in 2014 and 2015 to go to Syria, where one of them gave birth to two children, while the second gave birth to one child. Since 2019, the two women, aged 31 and 33, have been staying with their children in the Al-Hol and Roj camps in northeastern Syria.

The court concluded that Paris had violated Article 3.2 of Protocol IV of the European Convention on Human Rights, which states that "no person may be denied the right to enter the territory of the country from which he originates."

The lawyer said that France "cannot prevent the entry of French nationals into its territory. These were arbitrary decisions" and Paris should "reconsider requests to return to the country."

For her part, Benedict Janrod of Human Rights Watch declared that this decision should lead to a "realization" by France that it must "repatriate all French children and their mothers detained there."

"Adults in France can be duly prosecuted," she said, calling on all other countries that find themselves in the same situation to return their nationals.

She stated that the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child of the United Nations had previously considered that France "violated the rights of French children detained in Syria by not returning them to their homeland."

Doucet demanded the return of all the remaining women and children there, saying, "Through three operations, it will be done."

However, the court did not establish, through this ruling, a systematic right to return citizens, especially those associated with jihadist movements, saying, "The court considers that French citizens detained in camps in northeastern Syria do not have the right to claim the benefits of a general right to return them" to the country.

Alternatively, you may have to do this in 'exceptional circumstances', such as when 'physical safety' is threatened or a child is 'at risk' as is the case in the current file.

This ruling, which primarily targets France, also concerns other member states of the Council of Europe and their nationals detained in Syria.

When the verdict was read by the President of the Court, Robert Spano, in addition to the representative of France, representatives of other countries (Denmark, Sweden, Britain, Norway, the Netherlands and Spain) were present.

Elsewhere in Europe, countries like Germany or Belgium have already recovered most of their jihadists. However, Paris preferred the "case-by-case" principle, which was defended by its representative before the European Court of Human Rights, which arouses the resentment of families and non-governmental organizations.

But at the beginning of July, France returned 35 minors and 16 mothers, the first group to be returned to the country of this size since the fall of the Islamic State's "caliphate" in 2019. Until then, only a handful of children had been returned.

The mothers were charged or imprisoned, and all of them were subject to French search or arrest warrants, while the minors were entrusted to childcare organizations.

There are still about 100 French women and 250 children in camps in Syria.