Today in the news:
Two children, who were abducted by their Syrian father, have been hiding out in the Dutch embassy in Damascus for more than a week.
Ammar, 12 and his 10-year-old sister, Sara, walked into the embassy last week and begged for help, the Foreign Ministry in The Hague confirmed on Thursday.
“The Syrian press claims they were abducted by embassy personnel but this is totally untrue,” a spokesperson said. The work rosters have been changed to ensure staff members are with the children in the embassy day and night.
The Syrian authorities have no power to remove the children physically and give them back to their father as the embassy is on Dutch soil.
The legal situation is more complicated. The right of parental authority rests with the mother under Dutch law. But according to Syrian law the father can exercise control over the children as soon as they step outside the embassy.
“The ambassador and the director-general of the ministry are working hard to find a solution that puts the interests of the children first,” the Ministry spokesperson told newspaper ‘De Telegraaf’. “Diplomatically, this is a very sensitive question”.
complete article can be read at Expatica’s Dutch news in English website
Personally i think they should just put the children in the car of the ambassador and drive over the border of a neighbouring country. But if thats to dangerous maybe with a military escort. The father is registered as a kidnapper internationally, how is it possible he can walk free in Syria, maybe he has the rights on the children in his country, but he did choose to bring them up in another country with other laws. I feel very sorry for these children, especially because daddy doesn’t seem to be a daddy they want to be with.