Lawyers in Syria’s Raqqa demand legal advisers to solve Hawl Camp crisis
RAQQA, Syria (North Press) – Lawyers in Syria’s northern city of Raqqa demanded Wednesday to ask help from people with legal expertise to highlight and find a solution for the crisis of Hawl Camp.
Hawl Camp is the biggest security challenges for the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) especially that thousands of children and women who are family members of the Islamic State (ISIS) are present there.
Abdullah al-Aryan, a lawyer from Raqqa, said it is imperative to involve experienced lawyers who know how to address the international community and the related international institutions so that to solve the crisis of Hawl Camp.
“We need to know how to address the international community, in particular the supporters of northeast Syria. There must be a specialized team, a legal one,” he said.
The Bar Association should have the greatest part to communicate with the international community and the relevant countries who have nationals residing in Hawl Camp.
On March 23, Save the Children warned it will take 30 years before foreign children stuck in camps in northeast Syria can return home if repatriations continue at the current rate.
Khaled al-Hassan, co-chair of Bar Association in Raqqa, said the people of Hawl Camp need, urgently and imperatively, rehabilitation in accordance with awareness programs to encourage them to de-radicalize.
“People of Hawl Camp are from different nationalities,” al-Hassan said.
“Legally speaking, the AANES is not member of the international court and this hinders the possibility to prosecute ISIS detainees and their repatriation.”
In late March, the AANES Foreign Relations Department said response of foreign countries to repatriate their nationals of members of ISIS family from Hawl Camp is not proportionate to the amount of risks.