Russia calls for repatriation of children from Syria’s Hawl Camp
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Russia called on the international community to save the lives of tens of thousands of children of the families of Islamic State (ISIS) militants in Syria’s Hawl Camp, east of Hasakah.
This call was made by Gennady Kuzmin, Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN, during an open meeting of UN Security Council members entitled “Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Violations Against Children in Situations of Armed Conflict.”
Kuzmin stressed the necessity to take practical measures in order to repatriate those children to their homelands.
About 31,000 children are currently living in the camp, according to Kuzmin.
The Russian diplomat stressed that states have the duty under international law, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to repatriate their nationals and to take steps to prevent children of their nationals from becoming stateless.
Russian authorities are actively engaged in the effort to evacuate underage citizens from areas of armed conflict, according to him.
In late April, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) handed over 92 women and children of the families of ISIS militants to a formal delegation of the Uzbek government in the city of Qamishli, northeastern Syria.
In mid-December of 2020, AANES handed over 30 Russian orphans of the families of ISIS militants to the office of the Children’s Rights Commissioner for the President of the Russian Federation, Anna Yurievna Kuznetsova.
The AANES and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have been calling for the repatriation of thousands of wives and children of the families of ISIS militants in camps northeast Syria, since the elimination of the ISIS caliphate in March 2019.