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.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA
A clearer picture of needs across Iran is beginning to emerge after the conflict this month with Israel, which left hundreds dead, several hospitals hit and a spike in Afghan refugees returning home, the UN’s top official in Tehran said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WMO
The blistering early-summer heatwave that’s brought life-threatening temperatures across much of the northern hemisphere is a worrying sign of things to come, UN weather experts said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk made the following remarks to the Human Rights Council annual panel on adverse impacts of climate change.
1
1
2
Edited News | WHO
The first meagre midweek delivery of urgently needed medical goods to enter Gaza in months will provide scant relief to the enclave’s people, who continue to be shot and killed as they search for food, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.
2
1
2
Statements , Edited News | HRC
Enhanced interactive dialogue on the High Commissioner’s report on Myanmar presented by Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and oral update by Thomas Andrews, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar
1
1
1
Edited News | UNOG
The conflict-impacted people of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) urgently need much more international assistance than they are getting today, the UN’s top aid official said on Thursday.
1
1
2
Edited News | UNOG
Violence in Myanmar is spiralling as the military junta increases its attacks on monasteries, schools and camps sheltering people uprooted by the civil war, a top independent human rights investigator warned on Wednesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan on Palestinians killed seeking food in Gaza
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
Iran-Israel war: UN rights office concerned over strike on Tehran prison, reported espionage arrests
Tehran’s notorious Evin prison known for holding dissidents should not be a target, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said on Tuesday, a day after a reported Israeli strike on the complex.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF , WHO
Death and suffering in Gaza are ever-present and the enclave's people now have little choice but to risk their lives to fetch aid supplies, UN agencies said on Friday. “I met a little boy who was wounded by a tank shell at one of these sites on the final day of me leaving Gaza - I learnt that this little boy had since died of those injuries,” said UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson James Elder. “That speaks to both what is happening at these sites and what is not happening when it comes to medical evacuations.”
1
1
1
Edited News | UNCTAD
UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) launched today the World Investment Report 2025. Global foreign direct investment (FDI) fell by 11%, marking the second consecutive year of decline and confirming a deepening slowdown in productive capital flows, according to the report.
1
1
1
Edited News
Afghan journalist Zahra Nader fled twice due to Taliban rule, highlighting severe women's rights issues.