The United Nations announced that more than 100 people, including many women, have been killed in the al-Hol camp, in the countryside of Hasskeh, within 18 months, calling on countries to repatriate their citizens.
The United Nations Coordinator in Syria, Imran Riza, said that the al-Hol camp, which is under Kurdish control, “suffers from increasing insecurity. The children detained in it are doomed to a life without a future.” He added that 94 percent of the detainees are women and children. There are about 27,000 Iraqi detainees, 18,000 to 19,000 Syrians, and about 12,000 citizens of other nationalities.
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He stated that while Iraq has returned some of its citizens, many other countries that must accept the return of their nationals refuse to do so. But he believes that this is the only solution to empty the camp.
Al-Hol Camp was originally established to house Iraqi refugees in early 1991 during the second Gulf War and was reopened later after the influx of Iraqi migrants to Syria following the invasion of Iraq in 2003, as one of three camps on the Syrian-Iraqi border.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
