At least 27,000 children of suspected jihadists must be repatriated in the Al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria, who are exposed to "
appalling
" and "
potentially fatal and inhuman
" conditions, Amnesty alert Tuesday (November 30th) International in a press release.
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These minors from Syria, Iraq and more than 60 countries are arbitrarily deprived of their liberty with limited means of subsistence, subject to movement restrictions within the camp itself, in a climate of pervasive violence, according to the NGO. "
They are given over to misery, trauma and death,
" says Diana Semaan, Syrian researcher at Amnesty International. "
Governments must stop trampling on their human rights obligations and respect the right of these children to life, survival and development and organize their repatriation quickly and as a priority
," she said.
Since the fall of the Islamic State (IS) group in March 2019, tens of thousands of people have been detained in the Al-Hol camp, mostly women and children “
affiliated to varying degrees with ISIS
” or, for thousands of others, stranded in the camp because they were fleeing the conflict, according to the NGO.
Boys "arbitrarily" taken from their mothers
The Al-Hol camp is controlled by the Kurdish police of Assayesh. The area, called the “
Annexe
”, accommodates women and children who are not from Iraq or Syria. There, boys are withdrawn, from the age of 12, "
arbitrarily
" from their mother or from the people who take care of them "
solely on the basis of suspicion of a potential radicalization
", assures Amnesty on the faith of testimonies. "
We do not know exactly what is happening then in what the Kurds call rehabilitation centers except that there is a real concern of access to essential needs (food, water, medical aid)
», Told AFP Lynn Maalouf, deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa of Amnesty.
The NGO also calls on the "
urgent
" question of their return.
Some Syrians are given permission to leave the camp permanently, a key that they do not necessarily grasp for fear of returning to areas controlled by the Syrian government, for fear of returning without their detained or missing male relatives or because of the high transport costs.
As for Iraqi children or third country nationals, "
repatriation is the only chance to leave the camp
", insists Amnesty.
In 2021, Iraq began a slow repatriation process.
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For other countries, it is done on a case-by-case basis, like France, which is very reluctant to return its nationals (80 women and 200 children).
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