The children living at al-Hol camp were handed over on Monday by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) to a delegation representing the UK’s foreign office, Abdulkarim Omar, the head of foreign relations for the Kurdish-led administration, announced on Tuesday.
Save the Children has estimated that more than 60 British children are trapped in Rojava. In a report published last month, the NGO found that Britain had so far only repatriated four children from the camps.
Al-Hol camp is home to 60,000 mostly women and children, including over 8,500 foreign nationals. The camp has been described as a humanitarian disaster, lacking many basic necessities, despite two-thirds of its population being children.
The UK lags far behind its European and US allies in repatriating its citizens, despite calls from the international community and Kurdish officials. During a visit to Britain this October, the co-chair of the Syrian Democratic Council, Ilhan Ahmed, asked the UK to “give us support, rehabilitate everyone and take them back to their homeland.”
Earlier this month, Germany repatriated eight women and 23 children in an operation with Denmark, which brought back three women and 14 children.
Kurdish authorities in Syria are struggling to cope with the high number of detainees and the administration of the camp. A recent report from the US Pentagon Inspector General warned that al-Hol camp posed a significant security threat, claiming that “ISIS retained a strong presence.”
To many, it appears the UK has washed its hands of its citizens by revoking their citizenship and leaving them in the region. Earlier this year, the British-born ISIS member Shamima Begum lost the appeal to restore her citizenship after it was revoked by the UK’s Home Secretary in 2019, citing security concerns. Begum was 15-years old when she left London to join ISIS in Syria in 2015.
A report by the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) at King's College London, estimates that up to 41,490 international citizens from 80 countries joined ISIS in Iraq and Syria between April 2013 and June 2018, with foreign women and children accounting for approximately 25%.
An estimated 850 Britons travelled to Syria or Iraq to join the group, with around 40% either currently missing or held in Kurdish camps after having their UK citizenship removed.
