Save the Children urges states to repatriate children from NE Syria
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – On Wednesday, Save the Children urged states with children in camps in northeast Syria to repatriate the thousands of children “still stuck there” as Spain did a day earlier.
On Tuesday, the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the repatriation of two women and 13 children of the family members of the Islamic State (ISIS) militants from a camp in northeastern Syria.
It is the first batch of ISIS families of foreign nationalities leaving the camps of northeastern Syria in 2023.
The Save the Children organization praised the first repatriation by Spain and urged it to “urgently” bring home the four children and one woman still left in the camp.
Matt Sugrue, Director of Programme Operations for Save the Children in Syria, described this step as “a very positive start” for the repatriated children.
Sugrue added, “The remaining 7,000 children still lingering in the camps deserve the same,” stressing the need to accelerate efforts to bring every child back to his own nation.
He highlighted the dire condition these children are living under inside tents where temperatures decrease to zero in winter and the fire risks they face when trying to “stay warm.”
According to the organization’s statistics, 517 children and women were backed home from both Hawl and Roj camps in 2022 by 12 countries. It marks an increase of about 60 percent in comparison to 2021 and by about 84 percent compared to 2020.
The Hawl Camp, some 45 km distance to the east of Hasakah city, is home to 56.561 people with Iraqi refugees making the vast majority of the camp residents. It also houses thousands of Syrian IDPs from areas west of the Euphrates, which are now under the control of the Syrian government forces and pro-Iran militias. In addition, the camp includes ISIS families of foreign nationalities.
Roj camp, the second dangerous camp after Hawl Camp, is run by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), it is a house for 806 families, including 2.800 individuals of Arabs and foreigners, mostly women and children of ISIS members who hail from 62 countries, according to previous a report published by North Press.