Скачать или смотреть The Syrian Crisis: What's Next?✨ The Fate of Families in ISIS Camps

A4R 🎨 Podcasts are co created with GenZs Support our work by becoming a paid member..





As Syria stands on a point of change, what is the fate of families living in ISIS refugee camps?


The final ISIS stronghold of Baghuz Fawqani fell in March 2019, marking the end of its seven-year rule over Syria. With the defeat of ISIS, the women and children, assumed to be affiliated with the group, were held in camps across northeast Syria and Iraq. The largest of the Syrian refugee camps is al-Hol, whose population reached 70,000 in March 2019, overwhelming camp authorities and placing huge strain on humanitarian supplies.


Globally, these refugees represent a real problem. On the one hand, foreign governments don’t want to import extremism, but these people, as individuals, have human rights as well. The balancing of these two needs is often left for NGOs to deal with. In reality, however, it is a global problem, and governments can’t just wash their hands of these individuals.


Their right to security is at risk as many at al-Hol camp are unable to access necessary medical care. This is due to a lack of specialist medical care within the camp and northeast Syria’s weak healthcare system.


Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) runs several clinics within al-Hol camp but often struggles to get approval for patients requiring specialist care from outside of the camp. In 2021, MSF referred 381 patients, including 63 children, for secondary and specialist healthcare.


However, many of those referred did not receive medical treatment. MSF reports that, in 2021, a total of 286 medical referrals to external health facilities were rejected by authorities, of which 205 were due to “security reasons.”


Medical facilities are particularly limited in the annex, a heavily guarded section of al-Hol camp housing 11,000 foreign women and children, mostly from North Africa and Europe. Unlike the main camp, the annex is without a fixed clinic. Instead, it relies on one static clinic and three mobile clinics run by MSF.


However, the mobile clinics are regularly interrupted due to security incidents, and to reach the static clinic patients must pass a checkpoint where they are registered and subjected to body searches and photographs. Furthermore, there is no access to health services in the annex after 1pm.


The limited services available in the annex mirrors their position globally. Some are viewed as subscribing to radical ideologies, with many having willingly left their home countries to join ISIS. Therefore, there is little drive internationally to help these refugees. The lack of medical care in the annex is just the tip of the iceberg, many have been abandoned by their respective countries who have refused repatriation and even stripped them of their citizenships.


Al-Hol’s conditions are further limited by a lack of any formal legal policies and practices in place to govern the camp. It has become increasingly lawless and suffers from extreme criminality, violence and insecurity. Residents are caught between the repressive measures of the security forces and the increasingly violent criminal groups.


MSF reported that in 2021 the leading cause of death in al-Hol camp was crime related, which accounted for 38% of all the deaths in the camp. In addition to this, 30 attempted murders were reported in the camp in the same year.


The causes of violence range from allegations of spying for the security forces, extortion of money by criminal groups, or to social control. It’s been reported that individuals affiliated with IS have been killed due to their lack of adherence to the camp’s cultural and religious norms.


Camp authorities have set up safe zones to house residents threatened by armed groups. However, the security of these safe zones is severely limited. On 12 November 2021, a group of armed men wearing uniforms entered the designated safe zone before shooting and killing two people and injuring several others.


The camp continually fails to fulfill residents’ needs for safety and security, breeding an atmosphere of lingering fear and constant apprehension. The need for safety and security is crucial for the residents of al-Hol who have endured years of war.


Foreign women and children are unable to leave al-Hol camp. Many governments have been reluctant to repatriate their citizens for the fear of importing extremism.


Although some governments have taken back their citizens, for example, Kazakhstan repatriated 156 of its children in October 2019. Yet the total number of children repatriated from the three main camps in northeast Syria is only 350. This is remarkably low considering 7,000 foreign children remain in these camps.


These children struggle to find connection and acceptance as they are refused repatriation by their home countries. This inability to connect to their home countries leaves them isolated and more susceptible to radicalization at the hands of those affiliated with IS and other crimina...