ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq is set to repatriate 150 families next week from northeast Syria’s (Rojava) al-Hol camp, which holds many individuals with suspected links to the Islamic State (ISIS), an official told Rudaw on Sunday.
Ali Abbas, spokesperson for the Iraqi Ministry of Migration and Displaced, said the families that are set to return number over 650 individuals.
Iraqis and Syrians make up the majority of the 40,000 ISIS-linked people who have been held at al-Hol camp in northeast Syria’s Hasaka province since the military defeat of the terror group in 2019. The camp has been branded as a humanitarian disaster and a breeding ground for terrorism by security experts.
“The largest number of families that have been repatriated in one batch this year was 190,” said Abbas, adding that there are currently over 900 families residing in al-Jada camp in Iraq’s northern Nineveh province.
While in al-Jada, the repatriated individuals are to be prepared for reintegration into their communities and then returned to their places of origin.
“The population of al-Hol is reducing thanks to effective collaboration between the Government of Iraq, partners in northeast Syria, and the wider international community," a spokesperson for the Global Coalition against ISIS told Rudaw English in an email.
While acknowledging many challenges in the camp, the Coalition spokesperson said the process enables "the safe, voluntary and dignified repatriation of displaced people – ahead of their rehabilitation and reintegration back into home communities," and will "lessen humanitarian pressures, and deny Daesh the opportunity to exploit camp residents."
Iraqi National Security Advisor Qasim al-Araji said in March that around 20,000 Iraqis below the age of 18 remain at al-Hol. He described them as “time bombs.”
Kurdish authorities in Rojava repeatedly have called on the international community to repatriate their nationals from the camps, but their calls have largely gone unanswered as most countries are unwilling to bring back their citizens due to security concerns.
The Netherlands will initiate the establishment of an international tribunal to try crimes committed by ISIS, Dutch Human Rights Ambassador to the Hague Wim Geerts posted on X on Friday. However, the scope of the initiative is not clear, as to who will be tried and where.
Iraq and the United Nations have reached an agreement to repatriate all Iraqi nationals from al-Hol by 2027, according to the spokesperson.
Updated on July 8, 2024 with a quote from the Global Coalition spokesperson.
