34 International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (New York, 16 Dec. 1966) 999 UNTS 3, Article 11(1); and CRC (n 30), Article 27(1). 35 ICESCR (n 33), Article 12(1). See also the preamble to the 1946 Constitution of the World Health organisation. 36 ICESCR (n 33), Article 13; ECHR (n 21), Article 2 of the First Protocol; and CRC (n 30), Articles 28 and 29. 37 UDHR (n 21), Article 3; and ICCPR (n 21), Article 6. 38 UDHR (n 21), Article 3; and ICCPR (n 21), Article 9. 39 UDHR (n 21), Article 5; CAT (n 21), Article 1; and ICCPR (n 21), Article 7. 40 United Nations Office for the Coordinator of Humanitarian Affairs (‘UN OCHA’), ‘Syrian Arab Republic, North East Syria: Al Hol camp’ (26 July 2020), available at: https://reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/syrian-arab-republic-north-east-syria-al-holcamp-26-july-2020. 41 42 Médecins Sans Frontières, ‘Women Treated for Gunshot Wounds Amidst Violence and Unrest’ Press Release (30 September 2019) https://www.msf.org/women-treated-gunshot-wounds-amidst-violence-and-unrest-al-hol-camp-syria accessed 26 January 2021. RSI interviews with NGO workers in the camps, February 2020. 43 ‘More than 500 dead in Syria’s Al-Hol in 2019: medics’ France 24 (16 January 2020), available at: https://www.france24.com/en/20200116- 44 more-than-500-dead-in-syria-s-al-hol-in-2019-medics. Save the Children, ‘Syria: Child Death Rate Triples in Al-Hol Camp as Medical Access Deteriorates’ (13 August 2020), available at: https:// 45 www.savethechildren.org.uk/news/media-centre/press-releases/syria-al-hol-child-death-rate-triples. UNICEF Press Release (n 3). 46 RSI interviews with camp management, 12 February 2020. 47 UNICEF Press Release (n 3). 48 B Hubbard, ‘What Is Going to Happen to Us?: Inside ISIS Prison, Children Ask Their Fate’ The New York Times (Northeastern Syria, 23 October 2019), available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/23/world/middleeast/what-is-going-to-happen-to-us-inside-isisprison-children-ask-their-fate.html; and A Kaval, ‘Dans le nord-est de la Syrie, la mort lente des prisonniers jihadistes,’ Le Monde (31 October 2019), available at: https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2019/10/31/au-nord-est-de-la-syrie-dans-une-prison-dedjihadistes-de-lei-tous-les-jours-on-se-reveille-en-esperant-savoir-ce-qu-on-va-devenir_6017514_3210.html. 49 RSI interview with Kurdish Red Crescent, 3 February 2020. 50 UN OCHA, ‘Syrian Arab Republic, North East Syria: Al Hol Camp Snapshot’ (13 January 2019) (‘al Hol Snapshot’), available at: https://www. 51 humanitarianresponse.info/en/operations/syria/infographic/syrian-arab-republic-north-east-syria-al-hol-camp-13-1-2020-en. int/files/resources/Al%20Hol%20Snapshot_26Jul2020.pdf UN OCHA, ‘Syrian Arab Republic, North East Syria: Al Hol Camp Update’ (26 July 2019), available at: https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb. 52 RSI interview with Professor Loots, a Belgian Professor of Psychology who travelled with a Belgian medical team to visit the camps in 2019, 53 al Hol Snapshot (n 49). 54 Ibid. 55 Save the Children, ‘First Case of Coronavirus Appears Among Residents of Syrian Al Hol Camp’ (10 August 2020), available at: https:// reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/first-case-coronavirus-appears-among-residents-syrian-al-hol-camp. 56 See: UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria, ‘Statement on the Humanitarian Situation in Al Hol’ (13 August 2020), available at: https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Syria%20HC%20Statement%20on%20Humanitarian%20 Situation%20in%20Al%20Hol_13Aug2020_English.pdf 18 December 2019. International Rescue Committee, ‘As COVID Cases Rise 1000% in Northeast Syria, IRC Calls on UN Security Council to Reopen Critical 47 57 Yaroubiya Aid Crossing’ (26 August 2020), available at: https://reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/covid-cases-rise-1000northeast-syria-irc-calls-un-security-council. 58 RSI interview with US foreign policy expert with extensive experience in North East Syria, 3 November 2020: the US have been providing training to the SDF. 59 RSI interview with Anne Speckhard, Director of the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism (ICSVE), 29 October 2020; and RSI interview with US foreign policy expert with extensive experience in North East Syria, 3 November 2020. 60 In October 2019, President Emmanuel Macron hosted a senior SDF official at the Elysée Palace to show that France ‘stands alongside’ the SDF, see: ‘France’s Macron meets spokeswoman of Kurdish-led Syria forces, says he is ‘very worried’ The New Arab (9 October 2019), available at: https://english.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2019/10/9/frances-macron-very-worried-over-turkey-operation-in-syria. In March 2019 France publicly thanked the SDF for its cooperation which enabled France to repatriate a number of children from the camps, see: Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, ‘Syria – Communiqué by the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs’ (15 March 2019), available at: https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/country-files/syria/news/article/syria-communique-by-the-ministry-for-europeand-foreign-affairs-15-03-19. The French Government also sought to help mediate negotiations between different factions of the SDF, see: W van Wilgenburg, ‘Syrian Democratic Forces (Syria),’ available at: https://ecfr.eu/special/mena-armed-groups/syrian-democratic-forcessyria/. In March 2018, a delegation from the SDF met with President Emmanuel Macron to discuss the security and humanitarian situation in northern Syria and ‘assured the SDF of France’s support’, see: Élysée, ‘Entrien du Président de la République avec une delegation syrienne’ (30 March 2018), available at: https://www.elysee.fr/emmanuel-macron/2018/03/30/entretien-du-president-de-la-republiqueavec-une-delegation-syrienne. See also, in a recent case before the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Committee stated that ‘France exercises a military and political influence – not merely support – in this area with regard to the control of the situation of French children and their mothers detained by the SDF, which results from the treaty obligations binding France: Committee on the Rights of the Child, LH et al v France (Communication no 79/2019 and no 109/2019) UN Doc CRC/C/85/D/79/2019-CRC/C/85/D/109/2019, [2.15]. 61 RSI interview with US foreign policy expert with extensive experience in North East Syria, 03 November 2020: defined the relationship between some European States, particular the UK and France, and the SDF as a ‘partnership’; RSI interview with Anne Speckhard, Director of ICSVE, 29 October 2020: the SDF are cooperative with European States, for instance by allowing their intelligence officials to enter the prisons and camps to speak with their foreign nationals held there. 62 HC Deb 14 January 2019, vol 652, col 792. 63 HL Deb 24 February 2020, vol 802, col 77. 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