European States’ Obligations to Repatriate the Children Detained in Camps in Northeast Syria
is deteriorating.35 Women still committed to the ISIS cause have threatened,
attacked, and violently punished women and children whom they consider to
be “infidels.”36 There are numerous warnings about the camps turning into
incubators for ISIS resurgence. 37 Notably, the camps are situated in an area
of armed conflict between Kurdish and Turkish forces, making them
dangerous, unstable, 38 and at high risk of disintegration due to unrest or
return to open conflict in the area. 39
Children and Women in the al-Hol and al-Roj
Camps
As of October 2020, an estimated 63,400 women and children are detained
in the camps.40 Twelve thousands of them—8,000 children and 4,000
women—are believed to be from countries other than Iraq or Syria. 41 It is
estimated that more than two-thirds of the foreign children in the camps are
under 12 years old, with most under the age of five, 42 and over 500 of those
foreign children are orphaned or otherwise unaccompanied. 43 Among the
foreigners in the camp, an estimated 1,000 are European women and
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
12
OCHA, “Joint Statement on the Deteriorating Security at Al Hol Camp,” 21 January 2021; OCHA,
“Syrian Arab Republic North East Syria: Al Hol Camp,” 11 October 2020, p. 1; Medicines sans Frontiers,
“Women Treated for Gunshot Wounds amidst Violence and Unrest in Al-Hol Camp,” 30 September
2019.
HRW, “Syria: Dire Conditions for ISIS Suspects’ Families,” July 2019. Medicines sans Frontiers, “MSF
Denounces Unsafe Environment in Al-Hol Camp in Wake of Staff Killing,” 2 March 2021; InfoMigrants,
“Syria: 12 Murders in Two Weeks at al Hol Refugee Camp,” 25 January 2021; Al Arabiya News,
“Syria’s al-Hol Camp for ISIS Families Records 31 Murders This Year,” 3 March 2021.
RTBF, “Al-Hol Camp in Syria Is Out of Control: ‘Daesh Has Taken Over’,” 3 March 2021. The
Guardian, “Inside al-Hawl Camp, the Incubator for Islamic State's Resurgence,” 31 August 2019; Open
Letter from National Security Professionals to Western Governments, “Unless We Act Now, the Islamic
State Will Rise Again,” 11 September 2019; Rights Watch UK, “European Women and Children in Syria
– Factual and Legal Briefing”, 7 November 2019, para. 4; Natasha Turak “Hundreds of ISIS Prisoners are
Escaping from Camps in Northern Syria amid Turkish Offensive”, CNBC, 14 October 2019; Al Arabiya
“French Women from Syrian Camp ‘Retrieved’ by ISIS: Relatives”, 15 October 2019.
ICG, “Women and Children First: Repatriating the Westerners Affiliated with ISIS”, pp. 1-2; Bassem
Mroue, “Turkish invasion raises fears of Islamic State prison break”, Associated Press, 11 October 2019.
Center for Global Policy, “The Children of ISIS Detainees: Europe’s Dilemma”, Policy Brief, June 2020,
p. 8. HRW, “Syria: Dire Conditions for ISIS Suspects’ Families”, July 2019; Rights Watch UK,
“European Women and Children in Syria – Factual and Legal Briefing”, 7 November 2019, para. 4.
OCHA, “Syrian Arab Republic North East Syria: Al Hol Camp,” 11 October 2020, p. 1; Center for
Global Policy “The Children of ISIS Detainees: Europe’s Dilemma”, June 2020, p. 4. Note that the exact
numbers of the children and women in the camps are subject to continuous changes given States’ ongoing
policy changes regarding their repatriation.
HRW, “Thousands of Foreigners Unlawfully Held in NE Syria,” 23 March 2021.
Ibid; OCHA, “Syrian Arab Republic, North East Syria: Al Hol Camp”, 11 October 2020, pp. 1, 3.
RSI, “Europe’s Guantanamo: The Indefinite Detention of European Women and Children in North East
Syria,” 2020, para. 17.