UN-appointed human rights experts on Friday demanded an urgent repatriation of children from northeast Syria.
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, UN Special Rapporteur on the protection and promotion of human rights while countering terrorism, released a joint statement, as the detained children enter their fifth year of detention.
“It is now time to bring them home,” they said. “Many children are now entering their fifth year of detention in northeast Syria, since they were detained by the de facto authorities following the fall of Baghouz in early 2019.”
They called on all actors to ensure the immediate safety and protection of all children, regardless of their location in northeastern Syria to prevent them from suffering further harm.
Al-Hol and Roj are the two largest locked camps for women, girls, and young boys, holding about 56,000 individuals, including 37,000 foreign nationals. Over half of the population in the camps are children, of which 80 per cent are under the age of 12 and 30 per cent under five.
“These children are victims of terrorism and of very serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, and must be treated with dignity in all contexts, whether armed conflict or terrorism,” the experts said.
“Safe return to their home countries, in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, is the only solution and must be prioritized.
