Save the Children calls on governments to repatriate children from NE Syria
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – It will take 30 years before foreign children stuck in camps in northeast Syria can return home if repatriations continue at the current rate, Save the Children said on Wednesday.
After the fall of Baghouz in 2019, the last Syrian stronghold of the Islamic State Organization (ISIS), thousands of women and children who are family members of ISIS fled to camps located in northeast Syria, including Hawl Camp and Roj Camp.
Conditions in the camps are dire and unsafe, Save the Children said.
There are now over 7,300 minors from 60 countries across the world living in both camps and are struggling to survive illness, death, violence, poor water and sanitation, and a limited healthcare system, according to Save the Children.
“Children have been stuck in these terrible camps for at least three years now – some even longer. At the rate foreign governments are going, we will see some children reach middle age before they are able to leave these camps and return home,” Sonia Khush, Save the Children’s Syria Response Director, said.
“Instead of bringing them home, governments are denying their responsibilities. They are claiming they have no responsibility for these children.”
Save the Children is calling on their governments to urgently step-up efforts to repatriate them, along with their families.
Some Arab and non-Arab countries like Britain, Sweden and Russia among other repatriated some children nationals from the camps.