BRITAIN has a “moral and civic” duty to repatriate British children living in camps in northern Syria, Labour said today.

An estimated 60 British children, some under five years old, are living in squalid camps after travelling to the region with their parents, reportedly on the premise of joining Isis.

Many have witnessed brutality in the hands of terrorists, including beheadings, and have been left with severe physical and mental trauma.

Three orphaned siblings believed to have travelled with their parents from London to Syria five years ago were evacuated last week from a detention camp at Ain Issa by Save the Children.

Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry told MPs that all British children should be repatriated, even if their mothers would also have to return to face justice.

She said in the Commons: “It is all very well for some to say that the sins of the father, and in many cases the mother, should be visited on the children. But that is not who we are as a country or a people.

“Instead I believe we have a moral duty and a civic duty to ensure that these British children are brought back to the UK to receive shelter, care and the counselling that they need.

“Even if that necessitates bringing back their mothers to face justice in our courts for the crimes that they may have committed.”

Former Tory minister David Davis, who brought the urgent question to the Commons, said that only three of the 60 children were orphaned and said those with parents “still deserve the United Kingdom’s protection.”

He urged Britain to follow in the footsteps of its international allies that have allowed children to be repatriated.

Mr Davis said: “If we do not do the same, British children will be left at the whim of a brutal dictator or a terrorist organisation or roving bands of militia.

“If we do nothing we’ll be abandoning our moral obligations and risking those vulnerable children to growing up in a war-torn area and maybe turning into terrorists themselves. The time to act, minister, is now.”

Foreign Minister Andrew Murrison said the government was trying to identify British children in the camps and that its current priority was saving unaccompanied children and orphans.