Families and charities are pleading with the Australian government to bring home children trapped in hellish Syrian refugee camps.
Thousands of women and children related to alleged extremists have been trapped in Syrian refugee camps in the Kurdish-controlled part of the country for around two years.
There are more than 40 Australian children and their mothers being held in a camp called Roj in the northeast alone.
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Belgium has moved to repatriate its child citizens and to take custody of some women and children of alleged Islamic State fighters.
Belgium's prime minister Alexander de Croo said of the decision: "In these camps are the terrorists of tomorrow and we cannot permit that.
"These children, we must do all we can to get them out."
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Several other countries, including France, Russia and Finland, have implemented similar methods, leading to growing calls for Australia to do the same as conditions in the camps deteriorate rapidly.
Save the Children's Syria Response director Sonia Khush told AAP: "You should get them home while you know you still can, while you know the Kurdish authorities are still in charge, while they're still facilitating repatriation.
"Tarring them all with the same brush is really condemning them to being trapped in those camps for possibly years to come.
"Our request is always to take them home and then put them through a judicial process," she said of the government's concerns over fears some of the women may have sympathetic links to Islamic State.
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According to Khush, children are lacking basic healthcare and are getting increasingly ill with preventable illnesses, including debilitating tooth pain due to lack of dental care.
She added: "The mental toll that this takes on the women and children only gets more and more severe as time goes on."
Khush went on to urge the Australian government to do the bare minimum in bringing women and children home and out of the shocking conditions they're currently facing in the camp.
"Efforts must continue to bring innocent children to safety and help them recover and build a new life," she said.
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Australia last allowed a number of repatriations in 2019.
Featured Image Credit: PA