The International Committee of the Red Cross says hundreds of children, mostly boys, have been moved to prisons from al Hol camp in Al Hasakah, Syria, an area controlled by US-backed YPG militia.
Hundreds of children are incarcerated in adult prisons in northeastern Syria, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said, disclosing their plight as inmates for the first time.
The children, mostly boys, have been removed to prisons from al Hol, a desert camp run by US-backed YPG terrorists for 60,000 people from more than 60 countries, the aid agency said.
Most are women and children who fled there after Daesh's last enclaves collapsed two years ago.
Local authorities have said that many are associated with Daesh terrorists.
"Hundreds of children, mostly boys, some as young as 12, are detained in adult prisons, places they simply do not belong," Fabrizio Carboni, ICRC regional director for the Middle East, told a news briefing.
With the:
— ICRC Syria (@ICRC_sy) June 30, 2021
☀️ very hot weather
🦠fear of #COVID_19 spreading
the situation in Al Hol camp, Hassakeh northeastern #Syria is tough.
Two-thirds of the camp population are children. pic.twitter.com/Iw90EGQAvK
Findings shared with officials
The ICRC made 36 visits to places of detention across Syria last year, the only agency with such access.
It requires private talks with inmates on their treatment and conditions, but its confidential findings are shared only with the authorities.
It has access to some places of detention in northeast Syria - a YPG-controlled area - a spokeswoman said, declining to give details.
The ICRC also renewed its appeal for countries to repatriate their nationals from the al Hol camp and keep families together, "as international law requires.”
Carboni, who has visited al Hol four times in the past two years, said: "I really can't get used to seeing so many children behind barbed wire."
❝I really couldn't get used to seeing so many children in the barbed wire❞
— Tanertaner02 (@tanertaner02) June 30, 2021
It has been reported that hundreds of children are being held in YPG/PKK-controlled prisons in northeastern Syria. https://t.co/rHy4QWSVbl
The ICRC runs a field hospital and provides food and water at the sprawling site.
Medical needs remain huge, with a rise in resident children dying last year, including some from preventable conditions, Carboni said.
UNICEF said eight children under 5 years old had died at the camp last August, half from malnutrition-related complications.
The other deaths had been due to dehydration from diarrhoea, heart failure, internal bleeding and hypoglycaemia, the UN children's agency said.
The YPG is the Syrian branch of the PKK, which Turkey, the US and the EU designate as a terrorist group.
The PKK has waged a terror campaign against Turkey and its neighbours for over 30 years and the fighting has left more than 40,000 dead, including civilians.
However, Washington has chosen the group as an ally to fight against Daesh in Syria despite Ankara’s protest, sweeping the links between the PKK and the YPG under the rug.
After the defeat of the Daesh terror group, territories it formerly held are now controlled by PKK-affiliated groups.
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(With input from news agency language)
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