Syria policy puts British children at risk, expert tells MPs

A Foreign Affairs Committee inquiry into the UK’s future strategy towards Syria has heard evidence from a leading conflict and terrorism expert at the University of Reading.

Professor Harmonie Toros, Professor in Politics and International Relations, appeared before MPs on Tuesday 3 November as part of the inquiry, A new Syria: assessing UK strategy in a transitional state. For interviews, contact the University of Reading Press Office on 0118 378 5757 or pressoffice@reading.ac.uk.

The evidence session considered the Syrian refugee crisis and the pressures facing countries in the wider region. MPs examined the effects of reductions in UK aid, prospects for refugees returning to Syria, and the possible repatriation of foreign nationals held in camps in northeast Syria following the Syrian government’s takeover of the al-Hol and al-Roj camps.

Professor Toros gave evidence alongside Cathrine Brun, Deputy Director of the Centre for Lebanese Studies and a fellow at the University of Cambridge, and Dawn Chatty, former Director of the Refugee Studies Centre. The Committee subsequently heard from diplomatic and government representatives from Lebanon and Türkiye.

Commenting outside the hearing, Professor Toros said:

“Around 40 British citizens, most of them children, are still held in camps in northeast Syria, where the conditions have been described as amounting to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment by the numerous human rights observers

“The collapse of the larger camp, al Hol, in February this year and the emptying of large prisons in the northeast led to thousands of boys and men being transferred to Iraq without due process. They remain imprisoned there awaiting trial. 

“All sources on the ground confirm that British citizens, including children, are likely to have been transferred to Iraq. It remains unclear if the UK government is in contact with or offering consular support to any of these British citizens in Iraq or Syria. 

“The policy of UK governments since 2019 of ‘kicking the can down the road’ has only led to a more complex and dangerous situation that now straddles two countries, and in which the rights, well-being and indeed lives of British children are dangerously at risk.”

This was the latest occasion on which Professor Toros has been invited to share her expertise with the Foreign Affairs Committee. In September 2023 and January 2025, she gave evidence to its inquiry into the UK’s international counterterrorism policy in relation to UK policy on the detention of UK national in Syria.

Professor Toros’s research focuses on conflict, terrorism, political violence and approaches to peace. Her repeated invitations to advise the Committee reflect her standing as an expert on terrorism, civilian experiences of conflict and the consequences of government policy in northeast Syria.

The Foreign Affairs Committee scrutinises the policies of the UK government via the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and associated bodies.