The Red Cross calls on countries to repatriate foreign women and children from Syria
North-eastern Syria – North-Press Agency
The International Red Cross ICRC has called on Thursday, the concerned countries to repatriate women and children of the Islamic State militants, warning that the situation of refugees in the camps in northeastern Syria is “catastrophic”.
“There are hundreds of thousands of people detained because of the absence of a legal framework in a troubled part of a disputed area”, said Fabrizio Carboni, who oversees ICRC operations in the Middle East.
“There are hundreds of thousands of people who have spent the recent months and even years under bombs, hunger, trauma, and epidemics, it’s simply a catastrophic situation”, Carboni added.
“Our position is to tell the countries: “Repatriate your citizens,” Carboni continued, criticizing those who want to distinguish between “good and evil victims’, adding “as if children cannot be victims.”
He stated that two-thirds of the population of Al-Hawl camp in northeastern Syria are children, mostly under 12 years, stressing that “children cannot be left in an area that is subject to violence with very high or very low temperatures.”
The issue of the return of those foreign ISIS women and children poses a dilemma for several countries that have been attacked by “jihadists” and do not wish to receive such people.
Those displaced people had fled the battles in the last stronghold of ISIS and were housed in camps supervised by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeastern Syria.
The International Red Cross ICRC is the main humanitarian organization providing assistance inside Al-Hawl camp where more than 70,000 people, including more than 11,000 members of ISIS foreign fighters live inside the camp.
While France had chosen the idea of “each case” as a solution, and to repatriate only orphans or children with the consent of their mothers, while Britain had decided to withdraw its citizenship from the members of the Islamic State.
Carboni acknowledged that for many countries, the repatriation of ISIS family members “political damage”, but he’s encouraged the governments to assume their responsibilities.