Rojava calls on nations to repatriate children from al-Hol camp
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria (Rojava) called on foreign countries to take responsibility for their Islamic State (ISIS)-linked nationals held in overcrowded camps after an international humanitarian organization reported children were being held in adult detention centres.
“And hundreds of children – mostly boys, some as young as 12 – are detained in adult prisons, places they simply do not belong,” Fabrizio Carboni, Middle East regional director for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), said in a press briefing on Wednesday.
The children had been removed from al-Hol camp and transferred to adult prisons by Kurdish authorities. Al-Hol is home to just under 60,000 people from dozens of countries, the majority of whom are family members of suspected ISIS fighters. They have been interned in the camp since the territorial defeat of the group two years ago. Two-thirds of the camp’s population are children.
The camp has been branded a breeding ground for terrorism.
Boys living in the camp are in a state of “constant fear” and “mistrust,” according to Carboni. “Once they reach a certain age, many are separated from their families and transferred to adult places of detention, which are no place for children.”
The head of Rojava’s foreign affairs office, Abdulkarim Omar, said they had no choice but to move the children once they turn 12, expressing concern they could be radicalized in the camp.
“Those children are now in temporary centers until rehabilitation and integration centers are prepared for them,” Omar told North Press Agency on Friday.
He said that the first solution to the problem should be returning the children to their homelands.
Rudaw English contacted Omar for comment, but he was not immediately available.
ICRC president Peter Maurer described the camp as “the place where hope is going to die” when he visited in late March.
Earlier this year, Human Rights Watch slammed states for failing to repatriate their nationals held in “inhuman or degrading conditions” in al-Hol.
“And hundreds of children – mostly boys, some as young as 12 – are detained in adult prisons, places they simply do not belong,” Fabrizio Carboni, Middle East regional director for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), said in a press briefing on Wednesday.
The children had been removed from al-Hol camp and transferred to adult prisons by Kurdish authorities. Al-Hol is home to just under 60,000 people from dozens of countries, the majority of whom are family members of suspected ISIS fighters. They have been interned in the camp since the territorial defeat of the group two years ago. Two-thirds of the camp’s population are children.
The camp has been branded a breeding ground for terrorism.
Boys living in the camp are in a state of “constant fear” and “mistrust,” according to Carboni. “Once they reach a certain age, many are separated from their families and transferred to adult places of detention, which are no place for children.”
The head of Rojava’s foreign affairs office, Abdulkarim Omar, said they had no choice but to move the children once they turn 12, expressing concern they could be radicalized in the camp.
“Those children are now in temporary centers until rehabilitation and integration centers are prepared for them,” Omar told North Press Agency on Friday.
He said that the first solution to the problem should be returning the children to their homelands.
Rudaw English contacted Omar for comment, but he was not immediately available.
ICRC president Peter Maurer described the camp as “the place where hope is going to die” when he visited in late March.
Earlier this year, Human Rights Watch slammed states for failing to repatriate their nationals held in “inhuman or degrading conditions” in al-Hol.