On Tuesday, Tunisian human rights activists called on the Tunisian President, Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament to take urgent measures to save approximately 36 Tunisian children of former ISIS militants that are currently being detained in Libya.
In a letter addressed to Tunisian officials on Tuesday, the Observatory of Rights and Freedoms in Tunisia requested that the children be returned to Tunisia.
The Observatory added that the current situation in Libya has become dangerous, especially given the spread of Coronavirus in the country and the difficulty for humanitarian relief organizations of reaching civilians to distribute medical and food aid.
It called for urgent intervention to rescue stranded children who were at risk of dying in detention centers across Libya.
The number of Tunisian children trapped in areas of armed conflict around the world has reached 140, according to statistics compiled by the Observatory.
104 children had been detained in Syria and 36 others in Libya.
In March, the Observatory launched a campaign to return them to Tunisia, as well as highlight the prolonged suffering of the children. According to the Observatory, they are deprived of basic rights to food, clothing, health, and education.
Their parents were members of ISIS, most of whom were killed during the liberation of Sirte and Derna.
Last February, human rights activists said that mothers were refusing to give up their children, which complicated the legal procedures for deporting them to Tunisia.
Libya has shown willingness to release the children, despite not wanting to hand over their families due to the crimes they committed in Libya.
The Tunisian Consulate in Misrata said that the procedures for deporting children to Tunisia would depend upon the judicial procedures followed by Libya and Tunisia.
Tunisian lawyers have proposed the implementation of the agreement signed between Tunisia and Libya, which allows returning the Tunisian children by also deporting their parents to Tunisia.