FRANCE has violated the human rights of children languishing in inhumane and life-threatening conditions in Syrian camps for family members of suspected jihadists, according to the United Nations.

“France has the responsibility and power to protect the French children in the Syrian camps against an imminent risk to their lives by taking action to repatriate them,” the UN Child Rights Committee said on Thursday.

The organisation considered the cases of 49 children at the Rawj, Ayn Issa and al-Hol camps whose parents are alleged to have been members of Islamic State (Isis). Some were born in Syria and others travelled there from France.