ISIS sexually abuses boys in Hawl camp – Al-Monitor
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The Islamic State (ISIS) members in Hawl Camp in northeast Syria are using underage boys for reproduction, al-Monitor, a news site, alleged on Wednesday. The allegations are based on interviews with camp administrators, educators, as well as some of the affected children.
According to the report, the most radical women in Hawl Camp are forcing young boys to sleep with older women in order to impregnate them. “Their aim is to expand the population of the Islamic State to ensure that their slogan, ‘Dawla Baqiya’ [the ‘State Will Remain’], is fulfilled,” says a camp security officer.
Camp guards say they have information about babies born in the camp since 2019, when the lion’s share of the residents were transferred there upon the fall of ISIS’ self-styled caliphate in the Deir ez-Zor region.
Boys in Hawl Camp are brought up being brainwashed in ISIS’ ideology and training martial arts, the security officer told al-Monitor. They are also subjected to widespread violence, including killings and the sexual exploitation many of them have experienced. “We therefore have rules to separate the boys when they turn 12 or so or if they are acting violently.”
Some children have been brought to one of two rehabilitation centers run by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) such as Houri, Orkesh, and Halat.
Houri center was opened in 2017 in Tel Ma’rouf area, northeast Syria. It is the first center designated for the rehabilitation of the children of ISIS members to help them abandon the extremist ideologies and reintegrate them into civil societies. The center accommodates children aged 12-18 years old.
Halat Center for rehabilitating and caring for children whose parents of either dead ISIS militants or detained in prisons supervised by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) was opened in October 2021 by the AANES.
Orkesh, opened its doors late last year. It is home to upwards of 50 children, particularly those of foreign women.
At the two rehabilitation centers, boys are educated and receive professional psychological support. Yet the children currently being helped there are a drop in the bucket compared to the nearly 40,000 ISIS-linked minors and adolescents being held across northeast Syria’s camps and prisons.
The centers administrations complain of a lack of support from foreign governments and NGOs. Some human rights groups have criticized these centers for holding children away from their mothers, who they can only contact over WhatsApp once every two weeks.
Orkesh’ administrator shot back in an interview with Al-Monitor, condemning governments who preach “Swedish human rights standards” in “a war zone in the Middle East.” “We need many more centers like this. But how can we build them if we don’t have the means?” he asked.
“The help we want is not just material or economic,” the administrator of the Houri center had told the Rojava Information Center nearly three years ago. “For example, we would love for people who are knowledgeable in psychology and in subjects concerning our work to help train our teachers so we can improve our approach with the children and the education we deliver.” So far, outside help has not arrived.
Moreover, there is no clear outline of what will happen with the children once they turn 18. ” Depression and anxiety are chronic ills,” Al-Monitor reports. “Some of the boys have suicidal thoughts.” Many children to foreign-born women are foreign nationals and should thus be repatriated. But most countries are slow to do so.