Reintegration of ISIS families | Conflict Resolution Committee gets 28 children back to school in Al-Raqqah

Since the evacuation of the first batch of families of ISIS members from Al-Hawl camp in the far southern region of Al-Hasakah countryside, and the following three batches, Conflict Resolution Committee in Al-Raqqah has developed plans and implemented programmes for the rehabilitation and reintegration of children and women of ISIS families, who left Al-Hawl camp after mediation by tribal Sheikhs and dignitaries from Al-Raqqah city and countryside.

The Conflict Resolution Committee of “Oxygen Shabab” Organisation composed of human rights activists and tribal figures has established foundations and criteria and developed strategies to promote effective reintegration of women and children of ISIS families into society.

The Conflict Resolution Committee in Al-Raqqah has worked to reintegrate 28 children of ISIS families returning from Al-Hawl camp, in line with the criteria developed by the Committee.

In order to come over all challenges and obstacles that might hinder the integration process, the Education Committee and the Internal Committee in Al-Raqqah work hard to facilitate obtaining IDs and civil documents for those families.

Moreover, “Taa Marbouta” association, which specialises in women’s affairs, provides and organises educational programmes and dialogue workshops for women of families of ISIS members, who have returned recently from Al-Hawl camp, to sensitise them about women’s rights and give them tips and ways to avoid falling victims to abuses and bullying by society. “Taa Marbouta” also provides those women with all the necessary supplies for their rehabilitation and reintegration into society.

Speaking to SOHR, Mrs. “Najah,” aka “Umm Rami,” an Armenian woman and a member of the Conflict Resolution Committee in Al-Raqqah, says “since the committee begins its works, we have been working to monitor the living conditions of families who have left Al-Hawl camp, provide the necessary support, such as vocational education, awareness-raising campaigns and job opportunities for women and children, follow up all their issues, and secure their livelihoods.”

“We managed to provide women returning from Al-Hawl camp with vocational training courses on sewing and agricultural activities to secure job opportunities for them as a step to facilitate their integration into society,” madam Nagah has said.

A widow and mother of three children known by her initials as T. A. says “I took my son out of school in 2021, after having been subjected to racist abuse from his teacher, who called my son a ‘cub of the caliphate,’ prompting his classmates to bully him. My son ran away from school and I never sent him back to school. Now, I myself teach him to read and write at home.”

These developments and measures of integration and rehabilitation of ISIS families came after the Autonomous Administration had developed plans and programmes to integrate and rehabilitate children of ISIS families returning from Al-Hawl camp in accordance with a specific timetable by training a specialised educational staff to train and educate children to reject the extremism, isolationism and violence they had received in Al-Hawl camp.

From 2018 to 2021, nearly 1,200 ISIS families were evacuated from Al-Hawl camp in four batches, after mediation by tribal Sheikhs and dignitaries from Al-Raqqah. Those families included 3,250 children and widows who are not registered in official documents.