Teenagers from Islamic State households endure rehabilitation in Syria, however future nonetheless unsure

QAMISHLI, Syria — For a minimum of 4 years, 1000’s of youngsters have been rising up in a camp in northeast Syria housing households of Islamic State group militants, raised in an environment the place the group’s radical ideology nonetheless circulates and the place they’ve virtually no probability for an training.

Fearing {that a} new era of militants will emerge from al-Hol Camp, the Kurdish officers who govern japanese and northern Syria are experimenting with a rehabilitation program geared toward pulling kids out of extremist thought.

It means, nonetheless, eradicating them from their moms and households for an unknown time period, a follow that has raised considerations amongst rights teams. And even when they’re deemed rehabilitated, the childrens’ future stays in limbo with their residence nations reluctant to take them again.

“If these children stay in the camp, this will lead to the rise of a new generation of extremists who could be more fanatic(al) than those who were before,” mentioned Khaled Remo, co-chair of the Kurdish-led administration’s workplace of justice and reform affairs.

Recently, an Associated Press workforce was allowed to go to the Orkesh Center, a rehabilitation facility that opened late final yr. It’s residence to dozens of younger boys taken from al-Hol. Ranging in age between 11 and 18, they symbolize about 15 completely different nationalities, together with France and Germany.

At Orkesh, boys are taught drawing and music, all with the theme of tolerance. They additionally be taught abilities for future jobs like a tailor or a barber. They get up early and have breakfast at 7 a.m., then have courses till 3 p.m., after which they’ll play soccer and basketball. They dwell in dormitory-type rooms, the place they’re anticipated to maintain order and their beds made. They are allowed contact with dad and mom and siblings.

PHOTOS: Teenagers from Islamic State households endure rehabilitation in Syria, however future nonetheless unsure

Authorities didn’t allow the AP to talk to the boys on the heart, citing privateness considerations. During a separate go to to al-Hol, residents have been hostile, and none agreed to be interviewed. The AP additionally approached households that have been launched from al-Hol, however none responded to requests for remark. The newness of this system makes it troublesome to evaluate its effectiveness.

Still, the middle underscores how U.S.-backed Kurdish authorities are wrestling with the legacy of Islamic State, years after the group was defeated in a brutal conflict in Syria and Iraq that led to 2019.

Al-Hol Camp is an open wound left by that battle. The camp holds about 51,000 folks, the overwhelming majority girls and youngsters, together with the wives, widows and different relations of IS militants. Most are Syrians and Iraqis. But there are additionally round 8,000 girls and youngsters from 60 different nationalities who dwell in part of the camp generally known as the Annex. They are usually thought of probably the most die-hard IS supporters among the many camp residents.

The camp inhabitants is down from its top of 73,000 folks, principally due to Syrians and Iraqis who have been allowed to go residence. But different nations have largely balked at taking again their nationals, who traveled to affix IS after the unconventional group seized giant elements of Iraq and Syria in 2014.

Though Kurdish-led safety forces run the camp, they’ve struggled to maintain management. IS radicalism stays rife, with fervent followers intimidating others, notably within the Annex, residence to greater than 5,000 kids.

Children in al-Hol have little to do and little probability for training. Fewer than half the 25,000 kids within the camp attend studying and writing courses at its instructing facilities.

During a latest tour by the AP inside al-Hol, some younger boys threw stones on the reporters. One drew a finger throughout his throat in a beheading movement as he regarded on the journalists.

“Those kids once they reach the age of 12, they could become dangerous and could kill and beat up others,” the camp’s director Jihan Hanan informed the AP.

“So we had a choice, which is to put them at rehabilitation centers and keep them away from the extreme ideology that their mothers carry,” she mentioned.

Sheikhmous Ahmad, a Kurdish official overseeing camps for displaced folks, mentioned that after the boys flip 13, IS loyalists make them get married to younger ladies – another excuse for eradicating them.

So far, the variety of kids going by way of rehabilitation is small, round 300, all of them boys from the Annex. Ninety-seven are on the recently-launched Orkesh Center, close to the border city of Qamishli a few two-hour drive from al-Hol. The relaxation are at al-Houri, one other heart that started taking in boys for rehabilitation in 2017, as U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led forces took again territory from IS in Syria.

Al-Houri underscores the long-term downside: Some of the boys have been on the heart for years since there’s nowhere else to go. The solely various can be to ship them again to al-Hol. Only 4 kids have been repatriated from al-Houri, directors mentioned.

“While the transfer of these boys to separate detention centers may be well-intentioned, this is not rehabilitation. This is indefinite detention without charge of children, who are themselves victims of ISIS,” mentioned Letta Tayler, affiliate director of the Crisis and Conflict Division at Human Rights Watch.

She mentioned elimination from the household could also be applicable if the mom or one other relative is victimizing the kid. Otherwise, separation might trigger additional trauma.

“For many of these children, who have survived unimaginable horrors under ISIS and in the camps where they have been held since the fall of ISIS, the mother and other family members are their only source of stability,” she mentioned.

Kathryn Achilles, media director of the Syria Response Office at Save the Children International, mentioned separation from the mom “should only ever be as a last resort, addressed by individual countries after families return, in line with their laws.”

Hanan, the administrator of al-Hol, mentioned that they had few different choices. One proposal is to arrange rehabilitation facilities in or close to the camp, she mentioned.

“Maybe in the future we can agree on something with international organizations regarding such centers as they are the best solution for these children,” Hanan mentioned.

But Kurdish officers and humanitarian companies agree that the one actual answer is for residence nations to take again their residents.

“Once home, children and other victims of ISIS can be offered rehabilitation and reintegration. Adults can be monitored or prosecuted as appropriate,” mentioned Tayler of Human Rights Watch.

The U.N.-backed Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria referred to as in March for repatriation to be sped up. It added that the struggling inflicted on the camp’s residents “may amount to the war crime of committing outrages on personal dignity.”

Until an answer is discovered, the facilities create “an environment that is suitable to pave the way for mental change for these children,” mentioned Remo, the Kurdish official.

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