NOBODY’S CHILD

A couple of days ago we reported about the al-Hawl refugee camp (also al-Hol refugee camp) is a refugee camp on the southern outskirts of the town of al-Hawl in northern Syria, close to the Syria-Iraq border, which holds individuals displaced from Islamic State group-occupied territory. It is controlled by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). As of April 2019, the camp’s population was 74,000 having had grown from 10,000 at the beginning of the year. According to CNN around 50,000 of the camp’s inhabitants are children, while most of the rest are women and 15% of the inhabitants here are foreigners, but the international community has for months neglected the camp. The camp is already a death sentence for the inhabitants because of the dire conditions, also some of the women have talked about criminal activities going on in the camp.

While in the Balkans most of the countries are trying to get the women and children back, the process itself is taking to much time. Describing the situation at Al Hol camp as “appalling”, the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria called on the international community to take action. Most of the children held there lack birth registration documents, the Commission said in its latest report on the conflict. They risk being left stateless because Member States appear unwilling to repatriate them, fearing extremist links, panel chair Paulo Pinheiro explained; “Up to 70,000 individuals remain interned in deplorable and inhumane conditions at Al Hol camp, the vast majority of whom are women and children under the age of 12”. Making an impassioned appeal on behalf of older children from 12 to 18, questioning whether allegations and suspicions of terrorist affiliation levelled against them were correct, he said that the Commission “finds this completely appalling.” According to the Commission’s report, the humanitarian response to needs at Al Hol “remains woefully inadequate”, with hundreds of preventable deaths recorded.

At least 390 children have died from malnutrition or untreated infected wounds[1]. Some countries, such as Kazakhstan, have special programs for the re-socialization of women and children, unlike Britain and Germany, which institute legal proceedings. A UK court has decided to take her mother’s children away on the grounds that she knowingly ignored the danger of leaving to a war zone. An OSCE mission in BiH told BIRN that some returnees will have to stand trial, but others will be resocialized outside the criminal system. A deportation of nine men and a three-year-old child who was left without a family was arranged in October, but the operation was postponed following Turkish military intervention in northern Syria. Children born in Syria and Iraq are a particular problem. So far, a mechanism has been established to determine their identity before their deportation, because it is necessary to determine the biological parents,  whether these children are eligible for BiH citizenship.
“No one who does not hold BiH citizenship will be accepted, and DNA analysis will be the ultimate measure,” said Minister Maktic for the Hina news agency. Since the beginning of the Syrian conflict until now, around 80 citizens from North Macedonia have been involved in military operations, logistics, and they have returned to Macedonia. Among them is a woman and a minor child.

Western governments find themselves struggling to decide what to do with citizens who became ISIS fighters and their families. Security concerns make many countries hesitant to repatriate detainees. The UK and Germany have used their powers to revoke citizenship to citizens who left the countries to fight for ISIS. But pressure on European governments has recently intensified over the fate of the thousands of children trapped in the ISIS camps through no fault of their own.

Only around 300 are known to have been repatriated to their home country since January 2019. This number dates back to before the Turkish military operations began on 9 October. In the week since the beginning of the operations, at least 11 children have reportedly been killed, with figures for injuries estimated to be much higher than reported. These children belong to as many as 40 different nationalities from all around the world. Among European nations, Kosovo repatriated 74, France 17, Sweden seven, Belgium six, Norway five, the Netherlands two and Denmark one[2], while North Macedonia has only one. Kosovo represents a special case in Europe, as the region is 90 percent Muslim and had a significant number of citizens leaving the Balkans to join ISIS. It continues to repatriate the children and wives of foreign fighters.

Even though world leaders are unanimous about the innocence of these children, yet they are treating them as nobody’s children. It’s more then clear about the worsening conditions in those camps, but still the process of returning the children is going way to slow. Experts of extremism and radicalization are urging their governments to take action while they can, these children are victims, they have not seen anything else besides conflict and misery, babies have been born in war zones and it’s their countries responsibility to help them recover and return to normality while they still can!

Meral Musli Tajroska – psychologist, expert on violent extremism and radicalization, and women rights activist.

[1] https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/09/1046102

[2] https://newseu.cgtn.com/news/2019-11-24/Thousands-of-Europe-s-ISIS-children-will-never-come-home-LRGCYxvDTW/index.html