Hasakah, northeast Syria – The co-chair of the Office of Displaced and Refugee Affairs under the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, Sheikhmus Ahmad, said on Friday that the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) will begin overseeing humanitarian work in al-Hol camp, located in the eastern countryside of Hasakah.
Ahmad told +963 that the Autonomous Administration will continue to hold full responsibility for the management of both al-Hol and Roj camps. He stressed that there has been no change in administrative control and that none is planned at this stage.
He noted that there are currently no proposals to dismantle al-Hol. Any future step, he said, depends on resolving the status of residents in the camp – Syrians, Iraqis, and foreign nationals – many of whom have been held for years due to alleged links to the Islamic State group.
Ahmad added that the number of Iraqi refugees still living in al-Hol has declined, although he did not give figures.
In late September, the “al-Hol Camp Conference”, held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York and sponsored by the Iraqi government, called for greater international cooperation to close camps housing families of Islamic State fighters in Syria.
The conference’s final statement said it was “important to strengthen international cooperation to close the camps and address the security, political and human rights dimensions involved”. It warned that deteriorating living conditions could pose a serious threat to national, regional and global security.
The statement urged countries to provide basic services, education and support programmes, and to reduce the number of people detained through the swift repatriation of citizens to their countries of origin.
The conference called for broad-based approaches involving governments and local communities, including reintegration and rehabilitation programmes tailored to vulnerable groups – particularly minors.
Regional organisations and the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS were urged to support repatriation efforts. The statement also warned that falling international funding could hamper the effectiveness of existing programmes. It encouraged countries to speed up the safe and dignified return of their nationals and to strengthen cooperation through expertise, training and technical assistance.
According to the United Nations, al-Hol remains one of the most challenging humanitarian and security issues in Syria, six years after the defeat of the Islamic State’s territorial presence. Tens of thousands of people continue to live in deteriorating conditions, many with alleged or actual links to the group.
UN figures indicate that around 60% of residents in camps hosting families of Islamic State fighters are children, most under the age of twelve. More than 8,500 foreign nationals from over 62 countries are among those held.
Al-Hol and Roj camps in eastern Hasakah host thousands of families connected to the Islamic State group and are administered by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.
