Australian citizens are currently serving within the ranks of Kurdish paramilitary forces in Iraq and Syria fighting ISIL on several fronts. The Foreign Fighters Bill 2014 and current Australian government policy forbids any Australians to join either side in the conflict in Iraq and Syria and does not discriminate between those that join ISIL and those that join Kurdish forces such as the Peoples Protection Units (YPG-YPJ). As a result the handful of Australians who have taken a moral stance against the terror and brutality of ISIL and who have traveled to Iraq and Syria to fight alongside forces in the coalition against ISIL are viewed under Australian law as criminals and treated no differently to the dozens of Australians who have illegally traveled to Raqqa province in Syria to join ISIL and declare war on humanity.  Many in the community feel that the law does not reflect public sentiment and should change. Indeed public sympathy and support for Ashley Johnston, Reece Harding and Jamie Bright, the three Australians who have died fighting ISIL whilst in the service of the YPG, has been widespread in the community.

The legal status of Australians who have volunteered to serve in the Kurdish YPG and associated elements in North-West Syria (Rojava) and in the Peshmerga brigades of the Kurdish Autonomous Region of Iraq should be changed to better reflect community attitudes on this matter. Australian citizens who return to Australia after service with the Kurdish led paramilitary groups, YPG and the Peshmerga, should be granted full amnesty under the Foreign Fighters Bill 2014 and the Australian Citizenship (Allegiance to Australia) Bill. No Australian who fights against ISIL within the ranks of friendly paramilitary forces that are supported by Australia and her coalition partners in this war should face prosecution in Australia in the absence of evidence of war crimes. No such Australian who fights against ISIL should face the prospect of loss of citizenship.

We who sign this petition request that the legal status of Australians serving within Kurdish led paramilitary forces fighting ISIL in Iraq and Syria is changed. We request that these individuals no longer be considered criminal and that amnesty be granted to them from prosecution under the Foreign Fighters Bill 2014 and the  Australian Citizenship (Allegiance to Australia) Bill and be allowed to resume their lives without fear of prosecution.