The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
UN sounds alarm over killings at Syrian camp for displaced people
The Al Hol camp, Syria’s largest site for refugees and displaced persons, has been the site of 12 killings since the beginning of the year, the United Nations humanitarian office reported today. The camp shelters 62,000 people who have fled violence and hardship from several countries, and operates under the control of Syrian Kurdish forces.
“We are seriously concerned over the deteriorating security situation in Al Hol camp in north-east Syria. Between 1 and 16 January, the UN has received reports of the murders of 12 Syrian and Iraqi camp residents, including one female Iraqi refugee. Another person was critically injured in a violent attack”, Jens Laerke, Spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said today at a news briefing at the UN in Geneva, Switzerland.
Most of the people in the camp are women and children who came to Al Hol seeking protection and humanitarian assistance. According to UNICEF, 94 per cent of the people in the camp are women and children, and 66 per cent are children.
“There is such a high proportion of children in the camp. [It is important] for those children to be treated as children, and that the world does what is in those children’s best interest”, OCHA’s Jens Laerke said. “I don’t think anybody can be in doubt that it’s not in their best interest to be stuck in this camp for years on end. So repatriation of not least particularly children would be most welcome”.
Included in the camp’s population are family members of fighters for the so-called Islamic State, as well as their supporters and victims. Almost half of the camp’s residents are Iraqi nationals, and 38 per cent are Syrian.
“This recent rise in violence among the camp population is not only, of course, a tragic loss of life, but it also jeopardizes the ability of the UN and humanitarian partners to continue to safely deliver critical humanitarian assistance and services to the residents,” Laerke said.
“The United Nations and humanitarian partners provide a range of assistance in Al Hol, including emergency and primary health care, water, shelter, food and hygiene distributions, and protection,” he added.
The UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria, Imran Riza, and the UN Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis, Muhannad Hadi, have issued a statement on the utmost importance of ensuring the safety and wellbeing of people at Al Hol. In their statement, the two UN officials stressed the "urgent need for durable solutions to be found for every person living in the camp".
“We are calling on those authorities who control the security in the camp to ensure the safety of the camp residents, first and foremost -- but also the humanitarian workers”, Laerke said.
Since the fall of Daesh’s self-proclaimed caliphate in March 2019, after a US-backed Kurdish offensive in eastern Syria, Kurdish authorities in the area have repeatedly demanded that the women and children in the camp be repatriated to their countries and areas of origin.
- Exterior wide shot, Palais des Nations, Flag alley, a cloudy day.
- Wide shot, press briefing room
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Jens Laerke, Spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “We are seriously concerned over the deteriorating security situation in Al Hol camp in north-east Syria. Between 1 and 16 January, the UN has received reports of the murders of 12 Syrian and Iraqi camp residents, including one female Iraqi refugee. Another person was critically injured in a violent attack”.
- Close up, journalist in the room
- SOUNDBITE (English) - Jens Laerke, Spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “There is such a high proportion of children in the camp. For those children to be treated as children, and that the world does what is in those children’s best interest. I don’t think anybody can be in doubt that it’s not in their best interest to be stuck in this camp for years on end. So repatriation of not least particularly children would be most welcome”.
- Medium shot, camera finder with podium in background
- SOUNDBITE (English) - Jens Laerke, Spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “This recent rise in violence among the camp population is not only of course a tragic loss of life, but it also jeopardizes the ability of the UN and humanitarian partners’ to continue to safely deliver critical humanitarian assistance and services to the residents. The United Nations and humanitarian partners provide a range of assistance in Al Hol, including emergency and primary health care, water, shelter, food and hygiene distributions, and protection”.
- Medium shot, journalist in press briefing room at the UN Palais
- SOUNDBITE (English) - Jens Laerke, Spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “We are calling on those authorities who control the security in the camp to ensure the safety of the camp residents, first and foremost, but also the humanitarian workers”.
- Medium shot, spokesperson OHCHR and journalist in press briefing room
- Wide shot, podium with spokespersons
- Medium shot, journalist with cell phone in press briefing room
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Gaza: Hospitals continue to overflow with people injured while seeking food - WHO
As besieged Palestinian civilians face widespread malnutrition and starvation, hospitals in the Strip are increasingly overwhelmed by the influx of victims of shootings and other injuries at food distribution areas, warns the World Health Organization.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR , WHO , UNMAS
Urgent help is needed to halt a deadly cholera outbreak that is sweeping across Sudan, UN agencies said on Friday, while warning that communities continue to be terrorized by parties to the conflict even as they flee violence.
2
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News , Images | UNEP
Negotiations got under way at UN Geneva on Tuesday to agree on a legally binding treaty to curb plastic pollution, with delegates from nearly 180 countries attending.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF
Gaza: Hundreds of trucks per day of free aid needed “for months”, in addition to commercial supplies - OCHA
Despite the tactical pauses Israel introduced last week to allow some safe passage for humanitarian convoys, the amount of aid that has entered Gaza remains by far insufficient for the starving population, and UN trucks continue to face impediments on their way to delivering aid.
1
1
1
Edited News | UN WOMEN
Aid agencies echoed wider warnings of growing signs of widespread starvation in Gaza on Tuesday, as UN-partnered international food security experts released their most dire assessment yet of the situation in the wartorn enclave.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , UNDP , UNHCR
Sudan: urgent help needed as more than 1.3 million war-displaced people begin to return home
As conflict rages on across parts of Sudan, pockets of relative safety have emerged in the past four month, spurring more than one million internally displaced Sudanese to make their way home, says the International Organization for Migration (IOM). A further 320,000 cross-border refugees have come back to Sudan since last year, mainly from Egypt and South Sudan, to assess the current situation before deciding to return to their country for good.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , WHO
Gaza: SOS messages describe people fainting from hunger; UN health worker detained
Worrying alerts from United Nations staff in Gaza who have been fainting from hunger and exhaustion over the past 48 hours have increased fears for people’s survival in the devastated enclave, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR , UNOG
Over 11.6 million refugees risk losing aid access due to funding cuts, says UNHCR
Approximately one in three refugees and other vulnerable individuals normally supported by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) are expected to lose out from funding cuts, it said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, made the following announcement on the Office’s opening of a new mission in Bangladesh.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
“The surge in the number of Afghans forced or compelled to return to Afghanistan this year is creating a multi-layered human rights crisis requiring the urgent attention of the international community,” UN Human Rights spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Friday called for accountability and justice for the killings and other gross human rights violations and abuses in the southern city of Suweida.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNHCR
Syria: hundreds killed in Sweida, ‘widespread’ violations as civilians flee for their lives
Amid violent clashes in southern Syria’s Sweida governorate, a picture of grave human rights abuses and rising humanitarian needs is emerging by the hour, the UN said on Friday.