Parents sue over girl’s Syria trip

PARENTS whose child left France for Syria have been told by a court that they are not due compensation.

The couple had brought their case to the Conseil d’Etat, France’s highest court, believing that several laws had been ignored by French officials who allowed their under-age daughter to board a flight to Turkey.

She is believed to have joined forces fighting in Syria.

The court heard that France had had a law in place that blocked under-age children from leaving the country without their parents’ permission, if they were travelling on their French ID card or an out-of-date passport.

However the law, which was brought in via a ministerial circulaire was repealed in 2012 and subsequent laws in this area in May 2014 and November 2014 had changed placing the emphasis on parents to seek a block on their children leaving the country.

The parents had demanded these laws be made retroactive to 2012 and that the French government should compensate them for allowing their under-age daughter to leave the country.

However, the Conseil d’Etat rejected their claim that France had failed to uphold rules in the code civil which they believed would legally stop a child from leaving the house without parental permission.

It also ruled that there were no grounds in European law to stop all children from crossing borders who could not show they had parental consent.

The Conseil d’Etat also turned down demands for compensation, ruling that as the daughter had been in possession of a valid passport and a plane ticket in her name, and had not been subject to a travel ban, that state had not failed in its duty.