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UN Experts Call for Repatriation of Women, Children in Syrian Displacement
Camps

Lisa Schlein

   GENEVA, SWITZERLAND - U.N. human rights experts are calling for the
   repatriation of tens of thousands of women and children held in squalid
   conditions in northern Syria's Al Hol and Roj refugee camps, which are
   run by U.S.-backed Kurdish forces.

   U.N. experts describe the conditions as sub-human, and that under
   international law, the situation may reach the threshold of torture and
   human and degrading treatment. Fionnuala Ni Aolain is an expert on
   countering terrorism and said the matter is of extreme urgency.

   "The structures are poor and flimsy. The risk of pneumonia and serious
   illness for children, in particular, is high. Water conditions and
   scarcity is a fact of life. Latrine and other basic human necessities
   are under severe stress," she said.

   The camps house more than 64,000 people. The majority are women and
   children. Al-Hol is the larger camp for refugees and Syrians who have
   fled their homes, with nearly 62,000 residents. Most are women and
   children of Syrian and Iraqi origin.

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