Vladimir Voronkov, the UN’s chief on counterterrorism, expressed in an informal UN Security Council meeting that children in the SDF-run Al-Hol camp in northern Syria need to be repatriated, due to the dire situation within the camp.
Voronkov stressed the importance of this to UNSC attendees, underlining the vulnerability of the children to radicalization by ISIS terrorists present within the 62,000 populated camp, according to UN statistics. In addition, he voiced that the multinationality of said children are not the concern of Syria or those running the camps, but of the member states whose citizens are located in the camp.
Furthermore, Voronkov voiced that the repatriation of a number of families to their respective countries, and their compiled experiences indicate a false sense of fear that comes with repatriated groups. Voronkov added that the children concerned are victims and it should be made certain that they are given a chance to be reintegrated into their communities, rather than be detained or prosecuted which would expose them to further traumas.
