SOHR: More than 100 killings in Syria camp Since January 2021, UN says

More than 100 people, including many women, were killed in a Syrian camp in just 18 months, the United Nations said on Tuesday, demanding that countries return their citizens.

The Al-Hol camp is increasingly unsafe, and the detainees are being sentenced to a life with no future, said Imran Riza, UN resident coordinator for Syria.

Al-Hol, in the Kurdish-controlled northeast, was intended to be a temporary detention facility.

However, it still holds about 56,000 people, mostly Syrians and Iraqis, some of whom maintain ties with the Islamic State jihadist group, which seized parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014.

The rest are citizens of other countries, including children and other relatives of IS fighters.

About 94% of the detainees are women and children, Riza, who has visited Al-Hol a handful of times, told reporters in Geneva.

“It’s a very hard place, and it’s becoming an increasingly unsafe place,” he said.

There have been “about 106 murders in the camp since January last year,” and “many” of the victims were women, he added. “There’s a great deal of gender-based violence. … There are a lot of areas that should not go.”

‘Innocent’ children

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said violence in the camp was on the rise, with another killings on Tuesday – the seventh since June 11.

Out of 24 people killed in the camp this year, 16 were women, the Observatory added.

Riza said there were about 27,000 Iraqi prisoners, 18,000-19,000 Syrians and about 12,000 third-country nationals.

Although there have been some repatriations to Iraq, many other countries that “have to accept their people back” have refused to do so.

“The majority of the population there are children. They are innocent. If you leave them in a place like Al-Hol, you are essentially condemning them for not having a future,” Riza said.

Riza said when boys turn 12, 13 and 14 years old, they are taken away from their families and placed in another center, where their future is one of radicalization and joining a militia.

“The only solution is to empty the camp,” he said.

‘Cascade of crises’

Syria’s civil war broke out in 2011 after the violent suppression of protests demanding regime change.

It quickly degenerated into a complex conflict that involved numerous actors, including jihadist groups and foreign powers. The war left about half a million people dead and displaced millions.

Riza said the needs in Syria are unprecedented and increasing, with 14.6 million people in need of humanitarian assistance – 1.2 million more since 2021 – and the highest since the start of the civil war.

Riza said the country is facing a “cascade of crises”, with the key factor now being the economic decline that is affecting socio-economic conditions.

“The impact on Syrians is devastating, and families are increasingly being driven into poverty,” he said.

More than 90% of the Syrian population is estimated to live below the poverty line.