Beirut: Human Rights Watch warned Friday that US aid suspensions could worsen “life-threatening conditions” in camps holding relatives of suspected Daesh terrorists in northeast Syria, urging Washington to maintain support.
Kurdish-run camps and prisons in the region still hold around 56,000 people with alleged or perceived links to the Daesh group, years after the jihadists’ territorial defeat.
They include jihadist suspects locked up in prisons, as well as the wives and children of IS fighters held in the Al-Hol and Roj internment camps.
“The US government’s suspension of foreign aid to non-governmental organizations operating in these camps is exacerbating life-threatening conditions, risking further destabilization of a precarious security situation,” HRW said in a statement.
The rights group said the aid freeze could “limit provision of essential services for camp residents,” citing international humanitarian workers.
On January 24, four days after US President Donald Trump returned to power, NGOs linked to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) received a first letter asking them to cease all activities funded by the agency.
A week later, another letter, seen by AFP, authorized them to resume certain missions intended for “life-saving humanitarian assistance.”
The orders have left aid groups in the northeast “unsure how to proceed with deliveries of essential goods, like kerosene and water, further exacerbating pre-existing shortages,” the statement said.
“Secretary of State Marco Rubio should continue US assistance to organizations providing essential lifesaving assistance in northeast Syria,” the group said.
Following the January 24 order, HRW said Blumont, an organization responsible for camp management in Al Hol and Roj, suspended activities and withdrew all staff, including guards.
A few days later, the group received a two-week exemption allowing it to work.
Al-Hol is northeast Syria’s largest internment camp, with more than 40,000 detainees from 47 countries.
The vast majority of Al-Hol and Roj residents are women and children living in dire conditions.
HRW also said that “any political settlement in the region should include ending the arbitrary detention of those with alleged Daesh ties and their families.”
“Thousands of lives, many of them children, are hanging in the balance, and the indefensible status quo of the last six years should not be allowed to continue,” said Hiba Zayadin of Human Rights Watch.
The call comes amid talks between Syria’s new authorities and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) over the group’s future and as clashes rage in the north between the Kurdish-led group and Turkish-backed factions.
US aid freeze worsening Syria camp conditions: HRW
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US aid freeze worsening Syria camp conditions: HRW
- On January 24, four days after US President Donald Trump returned to power, NGOs linked to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) received a letter asking them to cease all activities
Syrian army declares Daesh-linked camp ‘closed security zone’
- Al-Hol is the largest camp for suspected Daesh relatives
- A military source said the army’s measure aimed to control security around the camp
DAMASCUS: Syria’s army announced Friday that a camp housing suspected relatives of Daesh group fighters was closed to the public, a measure a military source said was meant to bolster security around the facility.
Earlier this month, the army entered the vast Al-Hol camp after the withdrawal of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
In a statement Friday, it said the area was a “closed security zone.”
Located in a desert region of Hasakah province, Al-Hol is the largest camp for suspected Daesh relatives and is home to some 24,000 people, mostly women and children, including 6,200 foreigners.
A military source told AFP the army’s measure aimed to control security around the camp and maintain order within it.
Some camp residents fled during the “security vacuum” between when the SDF withdrew and the army took control, two former employees of organizations working at the site told AFP last week.
In recent days, new reports emerged of attempts to flee the camp.
In the latest issue of its official Al-Naba publication — translated by the SITE monitoring group — Daesh called on supporters to free women held captive in Al-Hol.
In 2014, Daesh swept across Syria and Iraq, committing massacres and forcing women and girls into sexual slavery, but backed by a US-led coalition, the Kurdish-led SDF ultimately defeated the militants in Syria five years later.
The SDF went on to jail thousands of suspected militants and detain tens of thousands of their relatives in camps.
When the Syrian army took control of the camp, most humanitarian organizations withdrew, and aid has only been trickling in since.
The Save the Children charity warned on Friday that the humanitarian situation in the camp was “rapidly deteriorating as food, water and medicines run dangerously low.”
After Syrian government forces advanced against Kurdish forces, Washington said it would transfer 7,000 Daesh suspects, previously held by Syrian Kurdish fighters, to Iraq.
The transfer is still underway.
