European States’ Obligations to Repatriate the Children Detained in Camps in Northeast Syria children died there.24 Many of these deaths were due to preventable causes, such as diarrhea and malnutrition. 25 Access to healthcare is extremely limited in the camps, which is of particular concern during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even with limited testing, COVID-19 cases have been reported in the al-Hol camp.26 Given the conditions in the camps, there is a risk of a wider outbreak of COVID-19.27 Furthermore, due to security risks, aid groups have been prevented from providing essential services and the pandemic has further hindered humanitarian actors’ ability to travel to the area and conduct their missions.28 Physical violence between SDF guards and those detained, as well as among the detainees,29 is endemic and so is psychological trauma.30 The violence that children are exposed to in the camps includes sexual violence, exploitation, trafficking, harassment, and the risk of indoctrination. 31 There are numerous accounts of adolescent boys who were forcibly removed from their families by SDF authorities and taken away to separate prison facilities,32 some of which have been described as “rehabilitation”33 or “deradicalisation”34 centers. Furthermore, the security situation in the camps 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 11 Liberation, “En Syrie, le Cimetière des Enfants Perdus du «Califat»,” 4 May 2021. Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, “Statement by Mr. Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic,” 41st Session of the Human Rights Council, 2 July 2019, 16 September 2019. UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs ( “OCHA”), “Syrian Arab Republic: COVID-19 Response Update No. 15 - 16,” 16 February 2021. For more information regarding COVID-19 in the camps, see: HRW, “Thousands of Foreigners Unlawfully Held in NE Syria,” 23 March 2021. OCHA, “Syrian Arab Republic North East Syria: Al Hol Camp,” 11 October 2020, p. 1; Thomas Renard and Rik Coolsaet, “From Bad to Worse: The Fate of European Foreign Fighters and Families Detained in Syria, One Year After the Turkish Offensive,” 2020, p. 3. RSI, “Europe’s Guantanamo: The Indefinite Detention of European Women and Children in North East Syria,” 2020, para. 40-44. Ibid, para. 39-40; Children’s Rights Ombudspersons (Belgium), “Recommendations From the Children’s Rights Ombudspersons of Belgium to Deal with the Children Returning in Belgium from Jihadist Zones,” no date, p. 4. See also: Médecins Sans Frontières, “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; Arabiya News, “Syria’s al-Hol camp for ISIS families records 31 murders this year,” 3 March 2021. CoE, Parliamentary Assembly (“PACE”), “Resolution 2321 (2020) on International Obligations Concerning the Repatriation of Children from War and Conflict Zones,” 30 January 2020, para. 1. For details see: Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, “Gendering the Boy Child in the Context of Counterterrorism: The Situation of Boys in Northeast Syria,” 8 June 2021, Just Security. See also: RSI, “Europe’s Guantanamo: The Indefinite Detention of European Women and Children in North East Syria,” 2020, para. 48. Nisan Ahmado, “Center in Syria Seeks to Deradicalize IS Teens,” Voa News, 6 June 2019. International Crisis Group (“ICG”), “Women and Children First: Repatriating the Westerners Affiliated with ISIS”, Middle East Report No. 208, 18 November 2019, p. 3; RSI, “Europe’s Guantanamo: The Indefinite Detention of European Women and Children in North East Syria,” 2020, para. 58-61.