After the liberation of Kobani from the Islamic State (IS) in January 2015, the Dutch government repeatedly informed Parliament about assistance to the Northern Syria region, which is also known as Rojava, subsequently renamed as the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). This agricultural region is Syria’s breadbasket, but it endured significant suffering and destruction during the war with IS.

After the defeat of IS, a democratic and decentralized governance system was developed, and agriculture diversified, in which the Kurdish movement played a prominent role. Ministers Ploumen (2016), Koenders (2016), and Blok (2019) made commitments to provide support to the region.  However, given Turkey’s hostility, delivering aid has been a matter of political sensitivity

The government of the Netherlands made references to various forms of aid – emergency aid, humanitarian aid, reconstruction aid, assistance in political processes –  yet what support has been given to whom remains unclear. In pursuit of this information, a Freedom of Information Act (WOB-WOO) request about this aid was submitted in January 2022. Recognizing that prosecution and justice were pivotal areas of focus during this period, a question regarding these matters was incorporated in this request.

In April 2022, documents were released, but disappointingly, they contained minimal information about assistance to the region. The documents primarily revolved around endeavors to prosecute and try IS suspects. Based on the data received, this  article  delves  into  the Netherlands’  efforts   to   explore   potential collaborations with the Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria for prosecuting  and  trying IS suspects.

Read more here: https://journals.tplondon.com/com/article/view/3130