Syria: Children in refugee camps risk staying there for 30 years
The repatriation of foreign children of suspected jihadists detained in camps in northeastern Syria will take 30 years at the current rate, the NGO Save the Children warned on Wednesday.
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AFP
“If repatriations continue at the current rate, it will take 30 years before foreign children trapped in the camps (…) in north-eastern Syria can return to their country” warned the NGO Save The Children in a statement.
The association’s call to accelerate these repatriations coincides with the third anniversary of the fall in Syria of the “caliphate” of the feared Islamic State (IS) group, defeated by Syrian Kurdish forces with the help of a coalition led by Washington. .
The offensive by Kurdish and American forces which led to the fall of the caliphate – self-proclaimed in 2014 straddling Syria and Iraq – resulted in the arrest of tens of thousands of suspected jihadists and members of their families, including many foreigners, and their incarceration in camps.
Save the Children said 18,000 Iraqi children and 7,300 minors from other countries were held in the Al-Hol and Roj camps, controlled by the semi-autonomous Kurdish administration, deploring “poor” conditions there. of life. Some 200 French children are said to be detained there.
Dangers
“The longer these children stay in Al-Hol and Roj, the more dangers they face,” said the NGO’s Syria director, Sonia Khush.
The Al-Hol camp, where some 56,000 people live according to the UN, was the scene of escape attempts and attacks. In 2021, 74 children died there, eight of whom were killed, the NGO said.
Despite repeated exhortations from the Kurds, most Western countries refuse to repatriate their citizens from these camps, contenting themselves with repatriations in dribs and drabs for fear of possible terrorist acts on their soil.
“When will the leaders take their responsibilities and bring them back” to their country? Asked Sonia Khush.
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