Foundation launched to get kids of Dutch jihadists back to NL: report

The parents of Dutch who went to Syria to fight in the civil war established a foundation with the goal to convince the Dutch state to bring their children and grandchildren back to the Netherlands, the Volkskrant reports after speaking with members of the foundation.

The foundation is called Achterblijvers, which translates to 'those who stayed behind'. It will be officially registered with the Chamber of Commerce next week, according to the newspaper.

So far the parents of around 20 Dutch rebel fighters in the Syrian civil war joined the foundation. The founders hope that another 20 to 30 parents will soon join up too. The parents hope that by teaming up they can make a stronger front with which to convince the Dutch government to bring their children and grandchildren home.

"Of course our children will have to account here for what they did and to prevent them from doing anything dangerous here. But we don't want our grandchildren, like the children of NSB people 70 years ago, to pay for the actions of their parents", a prominent member of the foundation said to the newspaper.

After the fall of terrorist organization ISIS, over a hundred Dutch were detained in Syrian-Kurdish refugee camps and prisons. According to intelligence service AIVD, this involves around 40 adults and 65 children. Children's Ombudsman Margrite Kalverboer repeatedly called on the government to bring the children back to the Netherlands. But the government does not want to.