After Shamima Begum left the United Kingdom to join the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) group in 2015, the British government stripped her citizenship — a move that rendered her stateless. Begum has been trapped in legal limbo since IS collapsed in 2019. She is currently held in Syria's al-Roj camp, where 34 Australians — 11 women (often referred to as 'ISIS brides') and 23 children — with alleged links to IS group fighters also remain, following a failed bid last week to return home. Unlike Begum, the federal government hasn't moved to strip them of citizenship — which would be unlawful under international law if it rendered them stateless. Other Australians have previously returned from Syrian camps — some with explicit government assistance, others without.