The Kurdish administration in Northeast Syria is going to release all Syrians from Al Hol camp. It concerns about 25,000 people, mostly women and children, who were brought there when the Islamic terrorist group IS was increasingly losing ground. The authorities say the camp is a heavy responsibility and a huge burden on the Kurds, because everyone needs to be fed and there is also “murders, rapes, and so on.”
The release is done in consultation with local tribal leaders, who must ensure that the Syrians do not (re) join IS.
Some 4,000 Syrians have already returned to cities such as Raqqa and Deir-ez-Zor. The remaining group of Syrians includes some 17,000 children. By far the largest group of those left behind in the camp are Iraqis: 30,000, two thirds of whom are children. There are also 10,000 foreigners in the camp, including Dutch. The Dutch government, like many other countries, does not intend to bring them back to the Netherlands.
Inhuman circumstances
Conditions in the overcrowded camp are bad. Human Rights Watch spoke in June of “unsanitary, inhumane and life-threatening conditions”. Hundreds of children have died in the camp due to illness, the UN noted last year. There are therefore regular attempts to escape, for example in water tanks, says correspondent Daisy Mohr.
According to Mohr, some of the women are IS supporters. “I hear that there are certainly moderate women among them. Tribal leaders from the area of origin have had to promise that they will behave when they get back home. Whether that will work, that will show.”
The correspondent says that the Kurds have wanted to get rid of the shelter for some time. “Iraq has also been asked to take people back, but that seems to be little heeded. Nobody wants to take over those people. The Kurdish authorities have had enough of that, and everyone understands that.”
The unrest in the camp has been a regular occurrence in recent years in the news. Radical Islamic women who adhere to ISIS intimidated more moderate women and held secret Sharia law cases. Tents were also set on fire of women who did not obey strict Islamic rules.
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