(AAP) A legal fight is on to repatriate eight Australian women and their 18 children from a refugee camp in Syria.
The group is being detained in the country’s northeast by the Autonomous Administration of North East Syria and its defence arm, the Syrian Democratic Forces.
It’s alleged the detention of the group is unlawful and questions are being asked about why successive federal governments have allowed some women and children to return and not others.
Save the Children launched the legal action in the Federal Court, claiming that without a formal decision the federal government had decided not to repatriate the latest group.
The group’s chief executive Mat Tinkler visited the camp last year and in a statement to the court said it was no place for a child to live and grow up.
(Date based on Australia time)
