ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Children and women associated with the Islamic State (ISIS) in displaced peoples camps are a “ticking time bomb,” according to an aide to Iraq’s national security advisor. Ali Nassir Binyan, aide to Faley Fayyadh, told Rudaw in Erbil on Monday that ISIS could come back and lives on in internally displaced persons (IDPs) camps in the country. "Daesh has ended, but the extremists’ thoughts remain, thoughts that could lead to terrorism, through which Daesh could resurge,” he said, using the Arabic acronym for the group. “We believe that some of these thoughts persist in the IDP camps.” There are more than 45,000 children born under ISIS rule in Iraqi IDP camps, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council. Binyan’s boss Fayyadh is also a senior figure in the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) militias, also known as Hashd al-Shaabi, that fight ISIS. The camps pose a danger despite security forces’ efforts, according to Binyan. "It is true that the security forces carefully vetted these camps and have undertaken many campaigns of vetting,” he said. “But the camps remain a ticking bomb that require care." Binyan said that this care should be “service, cultural and thought-building” for women and children associated with ISIS, without going into more details. "The question of IDPs is not easy, and the government and its institutions cannot alone handle the camps," Binyan said, adding that the Iraqi government has some programs for them already. The problem of ISIS children and wives in the camps is a thorny issue which Iraq hasn’t been able to resolve. The danger of the camps and possible marginalization of their residents could lead to more radicalization. Iraq’s authorities purposefully prevent families of individuals who joined ISIS from returning home, sentencing them to a life in camps, according to some outside observers. “Iraqi authorities have put in place a system that has allowed communities, security forces, and government agencies to collectively punish families whose relatives were allegedly linked to ISIS,” said Belkis Wille, senior researcher for Iraq at Human Rights Watch (HRW), on June 14. Moreover, thousands of children born under ISIS rule, or children from families whose member may have joined ISIS, lack state documents, thus not being able to access education or healthcare. “Undocumented children risk remaining left on the margins of society if this issue is not addressed immediately. This seriously undermines future prospects of reconciliation efforts,” said Jan Egeland, the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, on April 30. As for children of foreign ISIS fighters, UNICEF has described them as “among the world’s most vulnerable children”, urging their repatriation by home countries. According to Iraq’s foreign ministry, Iraq has repatriated 473 children born to ISIS parents to their home countries. The Iraqi government has so far not proposed a solution for the children and wives of ISIS.
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