The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) has called on the United Nations (UN) to cooperate in an international solution for detained members of ISIS and their families. The call was made by Bedran Çiya Kurd and Samar al-Abdullah, co-chairs of the AANES Foreign Affairs Department, to Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism. The Irish law professor, who reports to the UN Human Rights Council, was in north-eastern Syria last week. The trip focused on reviewing current conditions in detention facilities, reception and internment camps, and rehabilitation centres for young people. It was the first visit of a senior UN delegation to the autonomous region.

Hol Camp, the hotbed of ignored ISIS youngsters

Since the crushing of the territorial rule of the so-called ISIS in March 2019, AANES has been confronted with more than 10,000 detained ISIS jihadists from around sixty different states - around 2,000 of them are from Western countries - and tens of thousands of family members, some of them highly fanatical. In the Hol Camp near Hesekê alone, more than 50,000 people are currently accommodated. Most are from Syria and Iraq, others from Europe, the Caucasus, North Africa and the Middle and Far East. About half are minors, many of the children are under twelve years old and are indoctrinated in Islamist ideology. This makes Hol one of the most dangerous places in the world.

50 births per month

But instead of taking on the ISIS problem with global responsibility, the entire burden, both in economic and logistical as well as security terms, lies solely on the shoulders of the autonomous administration. As before, hardly any country is willing to take back its nationals and their families imprisoned for war crimes in the name of ISIS - despite the main burden of north-eastern Syria already borne in the fight against the terrorist militia. Meanwhile, the new ISIS generation in Hol continues to grow. With an average of 50 births per month, the camp is a veritable hotbed for jihad. Most of the births take place in the so-called Annex - a special wing where more than 7,000 foreign women and children are interned. It is known that young people are smuggled into the wing and father children with particularly radicalised ISIS women. 

Rapporteur calls for returns to countries of origin

In order to stem the breeding of the next generation of terrorists and to counteract the indoctrination of children and minors, particularly dangerous youths are rehabilitated in a rehabilitation centre to lead them out of the spiral of radicalisation. This, however, apparently caused Fionnuala Ní Aoláin to be stunned. "The mass, indefinite and arbitrary detention of children, especially boys" is totally unacceptable, the UN Special Rapporteur said at a press conference in Geneva last Friday. While access to prisons and detention centres in north-eastern Syria was "an important first step in ensuring the necessary transparency", Ní Aoláin said, one also "strongly recognises the complexity of the political and security situation on the ground". But the separation of adolescents and young people from their mothers was unacceptable, she said, as it was a clear violation of international human rights law and contrary to the rights of the child. The lawyer called on all countries whose nationals are interned or detained in north-eastern Syria to comply with their "basic human rights obligations" and to repatriate their citizens.

AANES has hardly any resources

As far as the children are concerned, the goals of the international community should actually be clear, according to AANES. They have often spent a large part or even their entire lives under traumatising conditions in ISIS territory or in reception camps, where they are now exposed to indoctrination by the terrorist militia - often through jihadist structures. Accordingly, the focus should actually be on coping with what they have experienced as well as psychological and educational care. With few exceptions, however, the international community shirks this responsibility. The autonomous administration, however, lacks the means to implement projects for prevention and deradicalisation one hundred percent in accordance with international standards. "It recognises shortcomings and obstacles in corresponding facilities and is working with all its might to improve living conditions in the camps despite the dilapidated infrastructure and limited capacities," said the AANES Office for External Relations after the UN Special Rapporteur's visit.

But if the deradicalisation and rehabilitation of the children, but also of their mothers and fathers, are to succeed in the long term, all the actors involved need to be very clear about their own role and the duties associated with it. On the ground, for example, a way of working must be supported that enables coordinated and concerted cooperation in the assistance and security network. To this end, problems of economic or legal imbalance, such as the legal processing of ISIS crimes as well as the sentencing of perpetrators, and instability would have to be solved. AANES has been making such proposals and far-reaching offers for cooperation for years. It also calls for international pressure on regional countries which exacerbate existing tensions in the region and support ISIS - thereby enabling the terrorist organisation to reorganise and spread. 

Turkey in particular is considered a prime example of direct support for ISIS. The zone of occupation forcibly established by Ankara in parts of Syria has proven to be a safe haven for ISIS, as shown time and again by attacks by the US military on leaders of the jihadist militia, among other things. However, the autonomous administration with its appeals has found a hearing almost nowhere. The failure of the international community to respond adequately to the demands of AANES has deepened the frustration of the local people at the lack of response - and thereby further exacerbated the ISIS problem. This is not only a problem for north-east Syria, but also for Europe.