Repatriate children from northeast Syria camps, NGO rep urges UN member states

26-02-2021

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — United Nations member states must repatriate the thousands of children living in dangerous conditions at camps for Islamic State (ISIS) - linked detainees in northeast Syria, a representative of Save the Children told the UN Security Council on Thursday.

More than 10,000 foreign, non-Iraqi children live at the al-Hol and Roj camps in northeast Syria; half of them are under the age of five, said Sonia Khush, Save the Children’s Syria Response Director.

“These children need specialized help to recover from the brutal experience of being ISIS's first victims, physically and mentally, and help to return to normality. The kind of support they need is impossible to provide in a place like Al Hol,” Khush said.

“Therefore, we urge all Member States to repatriate these extremely vulnerable children to their country of origin, together with their families.”

As ISIS barrelled towards defeat in 2018 and 2019, thousands of men were arrested and imprisoned, and women and children interned at camps under the control of Kurdish-led authorities in the country’s northeast. Around 64,000 people live in al-Hol and the much smaller Roj camp, according to the Kurdish-led authorities that control the facilities.

Conditions at al-Hol have been condemned by Human Rights Watch as “filthy and often inhuman”.

Twenty people were killed at al-Hol in 2021 – ten of which were beheadings, according to the local monitor Rojava Information Center.

Khush said children at al-Hol have told Save the Children that the killings have made them fearful.

"We had to go through a lot to extend electricity to our tent. It was amazing to finally have light inside the tent. But after the killings started, there were rumors that people who have electricity in their tents were being targeted. So now, we don't turn our lights on at night because of the fear of being killed," Save the Children quoted Salma, a 13-year-old living at the camp as saying.

Despite the dangerous conditions at the camp, some countries – particularly those in Europe – have yet to repatriate their citizens, often citing security concerns. Their refusal comes despite pleas from the authorities in northeast Syria that countries take back their nationals.

In a bid to force their government to reconsider their decision, some ten Frenchwomen at Roj camp began a hunger strike on February 21.

Earlier this month, the UN called on 57 member states to repatriate their nationals from the camp.

UN counter-terrorism chief Vladimir Voronkov told the Security Council last month that countries must repatriate the 27,000 children stranded at al-Hol.

The 27,000 children “remain stranded, abandoned to their fate,” vulnerable to be preyed on by Islamic State enforcers, “and at risk of radicalization within the camp,” Voronkov said.

“Every effort should be made to ensure children are not kept in institutions but allowed to reintegrate with family members within their communities.”