Iraq conference looks at danger of al Hol camp in Syria

The Iraqi National Security Adviser held a security conference in Baghdad on Saturday to urge European Union countries to take back their citizens from al Hol camp in Syria. The conference was held at the Al-Nahrain Center for Strategic Studies and was attended by the Special representative of the Secretary-General for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq, ambassadors of EU countries, and the US and Australian ambassadors to Baghdad.

Al-Hol is currently home to more than 56,000 people, including 19,000 Syrians, 29,000 Iraqis and 8,000 people from various other countries, according to the camp's administration office and al Hol Camp statistics in January 2022. The camp has long been chaotic, with hardcore militants among its population forcing their will on others and seeking to prevent them from cooperating with the Kurdish authorities who guard it.

Kurdish authorities and aid groups fear that the camp will create a new generation of militants. Foreign residents of the camp have been pleading with their home countries to take women and children back. The problem is that home governments often see the children as posing a danger rather than as needing rescue. Iraq, for example, has taken back some 450 families (around 1800 individuals) since May 2021, but most of them are resettled inside camps in Iraq. Foreign governments have been reluctant to repatriate IS suspects and their wives, widows, and children, leaving authorities in Iraq and Syria to put them in camps and jails for the most part.