Dire conditions

The Daesh attack that sparked the uprising by detainees at the Ghwayran Kurdish-run prison in the northern Syrian city of Hasakeh has reminded the world of catastrophic conditions suffered by the 700 boys incarcerated with 5,000 men in this facility. During the battle for the prison, which began on Jan. 20, Kurdish forces responded with heavy fire and US-led coalition aircraft bombed and strafed the prison and its environs.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has reported 246 prisoners, seven civilians and 79 guards, security agents and Kurdish militiamen have been killed although the full toll is not yet complete. Save the Children revealed early on that boys, used as human shields, were among the dead and wounded. Hold-outs among the prisoners staged their last stand in the boys’ wing of the prison so there may be multiple casualties among the minors, who range in age from 10-18. Some boys may have escaped with adult male prisoners who are still on the run. Daesh claims 800 have fled.

UN human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani stated, “We have previously warned about the squalid and insecure state of detention facilities run by the [Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces or SDF], where detainees are held in overcrowded conditions, do not have access to proper medical care and cannot see their families.” She said inmates have been “languishing” in these centres for more than two years in conditions which “are a recipe for violence.” She urged the international community to deal with this situation, which “is a ticking time bomb.”

The SDF runs 14 prisons, including Ghwayran, the largest, and smaller holding facilities for detaining 12,000 males suspected of being Daesh members, fighters, or associates as well as detention camps for the wives and children of the men. Al-Hol camp has a population of 60,000, 40,000 of whom are children; al-Roj camp 1,710 children.

Many of the women and children fled Daesh-held areas during the 2014-17 campaign to drive the movement from conquered territory in Syria and Iraq while others were evacuated in March 2019 from the Syrian town of Baghouz where Daesh fighters had gathered after the fall of the false caliphate. Among the camp dwellers are 12,000 third country women and children from 57 countries across the world.

The international charity Save the Children reported in September last year that conditions are “dire,” particularly in al-Hol which is “severely overcrowded and an unsuitable place for children. Services are limited and critically overstretched and shelter is inadequate. The scale of the violence, hardship, deprivation, and trauma that children living in these camps experience every day cannot be overstated.”

Iraqis and Syrians who fled Daesh rule mix with Daesh loyalists who continue to impose their rule and harsh regimen. Among the women are 400 Yezidis who were enslaved and abused by Daesh. Sixty-three per cent of British women in the two camps were trafficked, many when under age. Syrian, Iraqi and third country women and children in al-Hol live in sectors fenced off from the main camp which contains some males.

 Children who arrived with pre-existing conditions or severe trauma receive little or no treatment. Many experience domestic violence and psychological abuse. The risk of accidental fire in the tents is high. Murders, attempted murders, woundings, and arson are common. Guns and knives are prevalent. Daesh women have formed a “morals police” and persecute and attack those they consider “infidels.” Parents have to accompany children to and from informal schools where classes are limited due to the threat of kidnapping. Schools teach reading, writing and basic mathematics but do not provide all-round education although children are eager to learn. Non-Arab children face bullying for being unable to speak Arabic. Only 40 per cent of children in al-Hol and 60 per cent in al-Roj attend school. Many of the others perform menial jobs.

Freedom of movement is severely restricted. Residents are allowed to leave the camps permanently or in order to receive emergency medical care. Access to potable water and sanitation facilities is limited. Children die of preventable diseases, including covid. Vaccines are available only for health workers only. Girls face early and forced marriage followed by repeated childbearing and domestic violence while boys who reach the age of 10 can be sent to prisons where, when 19, they join male inmates and can be both abused and radicalised. This is why there are 850 boys trapped in SDF prisons where conditions are even worse than in the detention camps.

UN special rapporteur on human rights for the anti-terrorism campaign Fionnaula Ni Aolain stated in response to the prison battle: “Boys as young as 12 are living in fear for their lives amid the chaos and carnage in the jail. They are tragically being neglected by their own countries through no fault of their own except they were born to individuals allegedly linked or associated with designated terrorist groups.”

Castigating the 57 countries with their citizens in Syrian camps and prisons, she stated, “Their failure to repatriate these children, who should rightly be considered victims of terrorism and as children in need of protection under international law, beggars belief.”

At Daesh’s height of power and popularity, its fighters were mainly from Syria and Iraq, but the movement also attracted 40,000 foreign recruits from more than 80 nations, including European Union member states, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Ireland, Indonesia, Tajikistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan.

Some countries in the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Balkans have returned hundreds or thousands of their citizens, mainly women and children, while the rest of the 25 which are known to have repatriated their nationals have homed only a few, often without their mothers, some of whom have been stripped of their nationality.

UN children’s fund spokeswoman Juliette Touma told the Middle East Eye website the children must be released from such “precarious” situations. Since many have faced atrocities and trauma, “they are in a state of shock, so they need psychological rehabilitation” and must be reunited with their families and if they are foreigners repatriated and reintegrated into their home societies.

Photo: TNS