SDF responses to UNICEF’s representative statement on ISIS teenagers in NE Syria

QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Relations Office of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) issued a statement on Tuesday denouncing information released in the “irresponsible statements” of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) representative in Syria Mr. Bo Viktor Nylund to the New York Times newspaper on the conditions of the teenagers with link to the Islamic State Organization (ISIS).

On February 6, The UNICEF team headed by Mr. Bo Viktor Nylund, UNICEF representative in Syria and Natasha Stojkovska, director of Qamishli-based UNICEF Office, visited the children (Cubs of Caliphate) who survived the prison break in Syria’s northeastern city of Hasakah and checked the special child wings inside the prison and their situation.

The SDF denounced the report made by UNICEF’s representative  because of “the inaccuracies and unfair information it contains and contradicts the facts and as well as the official statement of the UNICEF itself, it is a huge contradiction and unprofessional.”

The representative’s statement is a “distortion of facts, distortion of the image of our forces, and denial of the tremendous efforts that have been made to preserve the lives of adolescents and to meet their basic needs,” the SDF statement said.

The SDF statement provided several facts that clarify the truth and conditions that those adolescents are witnessing.

First, when Mr. Nylund visited the teenagers they were not held in the old detention center, but rather they were in another center because the old center (al-Sina’a prison) became out of service due to the military operations between SDF and ISIS.

“Most countries with nationals among these teenagers and the international organizations, including UNICEF, are aware of all the details related to the process of transporting teenagers due to the ISIS attack on the prison,” the SDF statement read.

Second, the photo that UNICEF took and provided to the New York Times shows a temporary wing where teenagers have been held because the essential wings were under construction during the UNICEF’s visit.

Third, The SDF said that the teenagers are receiving good care in terms of food, clean water and medicine.

Fourth, All NGOs and local organizations have had access to the prison since 2020 until the date of the  ISIS attack on January 20.

The visits to the prison will resume as soon as security conditions are settled and the ISIS threats stop, according to SDF statement.

SDF stressed that solving the issue of those teenagers “shouldn’t be done by falsifying facts or distorting the efforts of the Syrian Democratic Forces.”

It is worth to mention that the SDF briefed, during the visit, to the UNICEF team the de facto situation of the Cubs of the Caliphate inside the detention center.