UNICEF renews its calls for the integration of the children of Al-Hol camp in their homelands

Yesterday, Sunday, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) called for the safe return and reintegration of all children in Al-Hol camp in Hasakah countryside, northeastern Syria.

“Children in Al Hol camp not only face the stigma that they live in, but also face extremely difficult living conditions, where basic services are scarce or unavailable in some cases,” UNICEF said in its statement.

“The detention of children is the last option, and if it occurs, it should be for the shortest possible period,” the UN organization added. “Children should not be detained on the basis of family ties, based on suspicions that the family has a relationship with armed groups or the membership of a family member in armed groups.”

UNICEF explained that there are more than 22,000 foreign children of 60 nationalities in the camp and around it in north-eastern Syria, who are “languishing in camps and prisons,” in addition to several thousand Syrian children.

The organization called for the evacuation of all foreign children to their countries of origin, in a “dignified and safe” manner, and to do everything possible to return the children who are currently there to their homes, and to reintegrate them into local communities.

It also called on all member states to provide children born to their citizens with civil status papers, in order to avoid becoming stateless.

Al-Hol camp witnessed the outbreak of a fire, on the evening of Saturday 27th of last February, which led to the death of three children and the injury of many of its residents. The camp includes thousands of families and fighters of ISIS, along with the people of the villages and towns that witnessed the battles.