“The focus of the mission was to enhance the capacity of the early warning alert and response network (EWARN) and ensure rapid detection, verification and response to communicable diseases alerts and outbreaks”, the WHO office for the Eastern Mediterranean said in a statement issued on Thursday.
They identified areas in preparedness and response that needed strengthening, said WHO, and carried out several field visits, including to Maaret Tamsrin, one of the areas impacted by the earthquake, to assess the local hospital and the integration of reception centres as part of the wider early warning system review.
Two reception centres were also visited for water quality monitoring, and the drinking water tested in coordination with a Syrian NGO, resulting in a recommendation to chlorinate water supply at the centres.
WHO
Rapid response
Mission members also boosted capacity in the rapid response teams (RRTs) which have been set up for cholera and other epidemic-prone diseases. This included a two-day online RRT training course on how to establish teams at reception centres.
“RRTs are vital, as the members can rapidly investigate and respond to outbreaks and communicable diseases”, said Dr Sherein Elnossery of the Infectious Hazard Prevention unit at the WHO Regional Office, who was part of the mission and delivered the training.
More than 150 participants attended the training from surveillance, community health care, WASH and medical teams. It included sessions on outbreak response, community engagement, water and hygiene services.
In addition, the psychological impact of community crises was addressed, and participants instructed on providing psychological first aid.
Strengthening cholera response
During the mission, the WHO team worked to strengthen the coordination and leadership of the response to cholera and other epidemic-prone diseases. They also supervised the implementation of an oral cholera vaccination campaign targeting 1.7 million people in Dana and Harim subdistricts.
Additionally, team members assessed the risk of the existing cholera outbreak expanding and, accordingly, 10 subdistricts in north-west Syria with a target population of 1.12 million people have been identified for oral cholera vaccine campaigns.
Dr Elnossery insisted that WHO “will continue to support the affected areas in northwest Syria to recover from the earthquake”.
The Afghanistan Socio-Economic Outlook 2023, released by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), provides an overview of the fallout resulting from the takeover of Afghanistan by its present-day de facto rulers, the Taliban, in August 2021.
Immediately after the Taliban assumed power, the Afghan economy collapsed, accelerating Afghanistan’s decade-long slide into poverty; with a population estimated by the UN at about 40 million and GDP of $14.3 billion in 2021, Afghanistan is among the countries with the lowest per capita income in the world, with around 85 per cent of the population estimated to be living below the poverty line.
Displaced children livingi in Khoshi District in Afghanistan receive hygeine kits.
Overwhelming dependence on international aid
Whilst the report points to some encouraging signs (a rise in exports, an expected eight percent increase in domestic fiscal revenue, stabilization of the exchange rate, and a reduction in inflation), it explains that this is largely down to the large-scale international aid funding ($3.7 billion in 2022, $3.2 billion of which was provided by the UN) sent to Afghanistan in 2022.
This does not point to a lasting recovery: income per person is expected to decline this year and in 2024: UNDP modelling suggests that, if aid drops by 30 per cent, inflation could reach 10 percent in 2024, and average incomes could fall by 40 per cent.
Any reduction in international aid will worsen the economic prospects of Afghanistan, and extreme poverty will perpetuate for decades: the UN aid appeal of $4.6 billion for international assistance in 2023 is therefore the minimum required to help Afghans in need.
No escape from poverty without women in the workplace
Surayo Buzurukova, Deputy Resident Representative, UNDP Afghanistan, at the UNDP office in Kabul.
Surayo Buzurukova, the UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Afghanistan, told UN News that the Taliban’s decision to highly restrict women’s ability to study and work is an important reason for the economic woes of the country.
“We have run simulations to see how the removal of women from the workforce will affect the economy going forward,” said Ms. Buzurukova. “We calculated that it will not be possible to achieve growth and reduce poverty without women. That’s the message we try to deliver when we speak to the de facto authorities.”
Ms. Buzurukova remains hopeful that the situation will, eventually become less oppressive for women, particularly in the provinces, where the support of women aid workers is in high demand.
“After August 2021, it was difficult to work here, and it took time to be able to engage with the Taliban and ensure that they listened to me. But now I have created a network of trust with senior members of the de facto authorities, at the provincial as well as the national level; it’s very important that they understand the importance of women to the economy.
We continue to deliver services across the country, through our NGO partners, and we have exemptions for the health and education sector, where women can continue to work but, of course the ban is a challenge and staff morale is affected.”
“There has been an ongoing and unchecked tragedy: the forced eviction of Palestinians from their homes,” they said in a joint statement.
“Israel’s transfer of its own population into the occupied territory confirms a deliberate intention to colonize the territory it occupies, a practice strictly prohibited by international humanitarian law,” they said.
“It amounts to a prima facie war crime,” they declared.
After repeatedly raising these issues with the Government of Israel, they said no response has been received to date.
‘Irredeemably’ altering city’s status
Indeed, despite efforts of international organizations and activists, Palestinians under Israeli occupation continue to be forced out of their homes and dispossessed of their land and properties on the basis of discriminatory laws.
The laws, designed to consolidate Jewish ownership in Jerusalem, are irredeemably altering the city’s demographic composition and status, they warned.
Discriminatory laws
In neighbourhoods adjacent to the Old City of Jerusalem, an estimated 150 Palestinian families are currently at risk of forced eviction and displacement by Israeli authorities and settlers.
Over the past decades, hundreds of Palestinian properties in occupied East Jerusalem have been taken over by settlers, in part due to a law that claims to allow the transfer of pre-1948 Jewish property to the “original Jewish owners” or their “heirs”, the experts said.
‘Lawfare’ in action
The current legislation helps settler organizations expropriate Palestinian properties through a manipulation of the law, they added.
“This is lawfare in action,” they said. “The law is discriminatory and acquisitive by design, and no such right to restitution exists for the over 1 million Palestinians and their descendants who were displaced and dispossessed from Jerusalem, Israel, and the rest of the West Bank and Gaza as of 1947 and in 1967.”
Longing for justice
“They are still longing for justice,” the UN experts said.
Of specific concern are three families that are currently at risk: the Shehades in Silwan, the Ghaith-Sub Labans in the Old City, and the Salems in Sheikh Jarrah. Despite living in their homes for many decades under a protected tenancy lease, these families have faced eviction lawsuits filed by settler organizations seeking to take over their properties for years.
The Ghaith-Sub Laban family has already exhausted all legal avenues to challenge the eviction order, they said, adding that Israeli authorities have served them with a notice to vacate their house by 25 April, or face forced eviction.
‘Blatant violation of international law’
“This is in blatant violation of international law that does not confer the occupying Power the authority to change the local legislation unless strictly required by security needs: settler-colonial intent and interests are not a security need,” the experts said.
The establishment and expansion of settlements constitute “a grave breach of international law, prosecutable under the Rome Statute”, they said, emphasizing that no State should passively acquiesce with these illegal acts to “trump the rights of Palestinians to self-determination, adequate housing, property, non-discrimination”.
“For the Palestinians, the enjoyment of human rights is a far-off hope as the suppression of these rights is part of the very architecture of the Israeli occupation,” they said.
“The almost 56-year-long occupation and the way it is allowed to conduct itself with general impunity and without consequences, makes a farce of international law and the credibility of the system mandated to enforce it,” they said.
“The occupation must end with all deliberate speed and until that day, Israel must comply fully with international humanitarian law and international human rights law obligations,” they stressed.
Special Rapporteurs
Special Rapporteurs and other independent experts are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. They monitor and report on specific country situations or thematic issues.
They are not UN staff and do not receive payment for their work.
Stéphane Dujarric was responding to questions from correspondents at the regular noon briefing in New York, after news reports that progress had been made towards a permanent ceasefire, to end Saudi Arabia’s military involvement in a military coalition that has backed the internationally recognized Government in its civil conflict with Houthi militia, since 2015.
Neighbouring Oman has been involved in peace talks with the warring parties in Yemen, running in parallel with UN efforts, led by Special Envoy Hans Grundberg, who Mr. Dujarric said was continuing to “explore options to extend and expand” a UN-brokered six-month truce, which expired last October.
Truce dividend
Even after the expiration, Mr. Grundberg noted in a statement issued last week, that the truce was “broadly holding” while many elements continue in place.
OSESGY
UN Special Envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, speaks at a press conference in Taiz, Yemen. (08-11-2021)
The Envoy said that greater humanitarian relief, a nationwide ceasefire and a sustainable political settlement “that meets the aspirations of Yemeni women and men” was essential, through a process that brings all stakeholders together.
Mr. Dujarric said that the discussions in Sana’a were “very much welcomed by the Secretary-General” and added that Mr. Grundberg continues to be “in close coordination with the regional Member States” over resuming the political process, with the hope of avoiding any escalation in the long-running war.
The UN Spokesperson noted that the UN had not been involved in the talks in the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital.
‘One day at a time’
“We are not involved in every discussion, we don’t need to be”, he said. “What is important is that all of these parties work towards the relevant Security Council resolution, the UN facilitated talks, and all signals are, that they are. But we will have to take things one day at a time.”
News reports suggested that progress in the Oman-mediated talks and brightening prospects of a peace deal for Yemen, added to momentum provided by the resumption of diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran, in a deal brokered by China.
Since conflict between the Saudi-led coalition and Houthi rebels escalated in 2015, tens of thousands have died, millions have been displaced, and aid agencies assisted nearly 11 million each month last year, with lifesaving aid, amid what remains one of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Around 17 million people rely on aid agencies to survive this year, the Security Council heard in a briefing last month.
According to news reports, as yet unidentified militants fired a barrage of rockets across the border, forcing Israeli civilians to seek shelter, and wounding at least two people.
Avoid unilateral action
“Concerning the situation between Lebanon and Israel, I can tell you that we condemn the multiple rockets being fired from Lebanon into northern Israel today”, said UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, briefing reporters at UN Headquarters in New York.
He said that the The UN Interim Force in Lebanon UNIFIL, “remains in contact with authorities on both sides” of the Blue Line – the frontier set by the UN in 2000 for the purposes of confirming Israeli withdrawal following its invasion of southern Lebanon.
Mr. Dujarric urge the parties to liaise with UN peacekeepers “and avoid any unilateral action that could further escalate the situation.”
Wider escalation ‘must be avoided’
In a tweet, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, also condemned the launch of “indiscriminate rockets” from Lebanon, which he said was the largest incursion by rocket fire since 2006.
“It is unacceptable and must stop. A wider escalation must be avoided“, he added.
The latest developments in the north, added to tension between Israelis and Palestinians over security and access to a site holy to both Jews and Muslims alike, the Al-Aqsa mosque complex – which is the third most revered site in Islam, and home to the central mosque also known to Palestinians as Al-Qibli.
On Wednesday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that he had been “shocked and appalled” by images of violence between Israeli security forces and Palestinian worshippers, inside the mosque that day.
Israeli forces stormed the Al-Qibli mosque overnight, arresting hundreds of people, amid chaotic scenes of beatings, and fireworks being let off.
‘Blatantly excessive’ use of force – independent expert
On Thursday, the UN Human Rights Council-appointed independent expert on the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, condemned what she termed the “violent incursions” by Israeli forces on the compound overall, and attacks on worshippers inside the mosque.
“As Palestinian Muslims gathered for Ramadan prayers exercising their right to worship in Al-Aqsa Mosque, Israeli authorities used blatantly excessive and unjustified force against them,” said Special Rapporteur, Francesca Albanese.
UN News
Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur for Human Rights situation in the oPt since 1967.
She said at least 31 Palestinians had been reportedly injured during Wednesday’s raid, adding that paramedics had allegedly been prevented from providing medical treatment to the wounded.
In a press release, she said that Israeli forces had violently entered the mosque, according to initial accounts, used stun grenades and tear gas, fired sponge-tipped bullets, and indiscriminately beat Muslim worshippers with batons and rifle butts.
She said that at least 450 Palestinian men were reportedly arrested, and some were kicked and slapped by escorting soldiers as they were led out.
‘Reckless and unlawful’
Ms. Albanese deplored the “reckless and unlawful” actions of Israeli forces, which reportedly allowed some 165 Jewish Israelis to enter the compound, in violation of the Status Quo Agreement, which she indicated that Israel was “bound to respect”.
“The well-known desire of Israeli settlers to either destroy the mosque or forcibly convert all or part of the compound into a synagogue, as happened to the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, is a source of deep anxiety among Palestinians,” she said.
She added that it was “imperative that all parties comply with international law, without exception…Failure to do so fuels and perpetuates the culture of injustice and impunity.”
Special Rapporteurs like Ms. Albanese, and other UN Human Rights Council-appointed independent experts, are mandated to monitor and report on specific thematic issues or country situations. They are not UN staff and do not receive any compensation for their work.
Israeli forces stormed Al-Aqsa mosque, also commonly known as al-Qibli mosque, overnight, arresting more than 350 people, according to media reports.
The raids continued into Wednesday morning. In response, Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired rockets at Israel.
Appalling violence
Mr. Wennesland issued a statement saying he was appalled by the images of violence inside the mosque, which is located in the Old City of Jerusalem and considered the third holiest site in Islam.
“I am disturbed by the apparent beating of Palestinians by Israeli security forces and large number of arrests. I also strongly reject the stockpiling and use of fireworks and rocks by Palestinians inside the mosque,” he said.
Al-Qibli mosque, within the overall compound of Al-Aqsa, is situated on Temple Mount, which is sacred to Jews.
Violent clashes took place there two years ago, sparking 11 days of deadly conflict between Israel and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza.
‘This should be a time for peace’ – Guterres
Briefing journalists at UN Headquarters, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, said Secretary-General António Guterres had been “shocked and appalled by the images” he had seen of the violence and beating by Israeli security forces inside the al-Qibli mosque.
“At a time of the calendar which is holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims, this should be a time for peace and not violence. Places of worship should only be used for peaceful religious observances.”
Safety at holy sites
The latest raid took place during the holy month of Ramadan and on the eve of the Jewish Passover holiday, against a backdrop of rising unrest between Israelis and Palestinians.
“This holy period and places of worship should be for safe and peaceful religious reflection, noting that nearly 600,000 people have visited the Holy Sites in Jerusalem since the beginning of Ramadan,” said Mr. Wennesland, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process
“I call on political, religious and community leaders on all sides to reject incitement, inflammatory rhetoric, and provocative actions.”
Refrain from escalation
The UN envoy insisted that the “historic status quo” of the holy sites must be upheld, in line with the special role of Jordan, their custodian.
“Leaders on all sides must act responsibly and refrain from steps that could escalate tensions,” he said, adding that “the indiscriminate firing of rockets from Gaza is unacceptable and must stop.”
He said the UN remains in close contact with all parties to de-escalate the situation.
Special Rapporteur Margaret Satterthwaite expressed grave concern over interference in the investigation, including threats against Judge Tarek Bitar, who has been leading the process since February 2021.
“Judges should never be threatened or subjected to criminal or disciplinary action simply for doing their job,” she said.
Justice delayed
More than 200 people died as a result of the blast, which ripped through Beirut’s port, causing extensive damage to the city, and unleashing dangerous chemicals into the atmosphere.
Another 7,000 were injured, while some 300,000 people were displaced.
Ms. Satterthwaite, whose mandate upholds the independence of judges and lawyers, condemned undue delays that have prevented justice for those affected by the disaster.
“I am deeply disturbed by reports that former State officials and others who have been implicated in the case have disingenuously resorted to recusal proceedings and other challenging actions directed at the investigating judges appointed to examine the case,” she said.
“This has led to the replacement of an investigating judge in February 2021, as well as several suspensions of the investigation in recent months,” she added.
Obstacles and threats
The rights expert pointed to reports that since the explosion was referred to the Lebanese Judicial Council for investigation, authorities have rejected requests to lift parliamentary immunity and allow security officials to be questioned.
She said the Lebanese Government has also failed to execute arrest warrants against former ministers. Meanwhile, Judge Bitar has faced increasing obstacles and threats, and no one has been tried to date.
On 23 January, the judge announced that investigations would resume following a 13-month pause, according to media reports.
Two days later, he was charged with several offences, including ‘usurpation of power’, and subjected to a travel ban.
Efforts to discredit
“A number of motions have been filed with the intention of removing Judge Bitar from the case, and there is an ongoing campaign on television and social media to discredit him,” said Ms. Satterthwaite, noting that the judge has reportedly received credible death threats and is currently under military protection.
“Judge Bitar must have the security he needs to carry out his work,” she said. “I urge Lebanese authorities to ensure that these threats are investigated, and that the judge, his colleagues and his family are adequately protected.”
Ms. Satterthwaite said victims and their families have been seeking justice for well over two years.
Uphold judicial independence
She urged the authorities to take immediate action to protect the independence and integrity of the investigation and ensure that those responsible for the explosion can be held accountable.
“Those affected by the blast have a fundamental right to the protection of the law and to effective remedies,” the UN expert said. “That can only happen if the independence of the judiciary is upheld.”
About UN Special Rapporteurs
Special Rapporteurs and other independent experts are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to monitor and report on specific country situations or thematic issues.
They are not UN staff and do not receive payment for their work.
The report examines five “waves of disappearance” in Iraq, including enforced disappearance. It covers the period starting with the Ba’ath era from 1968-2003 – characterized by the authoritarian rule of Saddam Hussein – through to the anti-Government protests from 2018 to 2020.
While acknowledging the serious challenges the authorities face in addressing the situation in Iraq, the experts were deeply concerned that enforced disappearance has been widespread over different periods, and that impunity and revictimization prevail.
“The visit constitutes a new step in the Committee’s interaction with Iraq, one of the first countries to ratify the Convention,” they said, adding, “but lots remain to be done.”
Unsplash/Levi Meir Clancy
Iraqi children walk past a marketplace in Sinjar which was ruined in the war with the Da’esh terrorist network, otherwise known as ISIL.
Ongoing patterns of disappearance
The Committee met with senior officials, victims, and civil society representatives in Iraq.
Members heard numerous testimonies from victims, including a mother whose son disappeared after being stopped at a checkpoint while going to visit a cousin. Her story was indicative of an ongoing pattern in Iraq, according to the Committee.
Children ‘given’ away
Another common pattern concerns the alleged enforced disappearance of children, particularly from the Yazidi minority community, born after their mothers were sexually abused in camps operated by the extremist group ISIL or Da’esh.
The Committee learned that, in some cases, mothers were compelled to leave their children in orphanages after returning to Iraq, intending to take them home as soon as possible.
However, when they went to reclaim them, the mothers were told that their children had been “given” to another family, allegedly with direct involvement of some State agents.
A ‘massive’ problem
Hundreds of families are also still searching for relatives they suspect are in camps in Türkiye, Syria, or Iran, “where contact with the outside world is impossible”, the Committee said.
The report noted that following decades of conflict and political violence, disappearances – including enforced disappearances – have been identified as “a problem of massive proportions in Iraq.”
Official estimates indicate that since 1968, between 250,000 and 1,000,000 people have been disappeared, though it is impossible to provide more precise figures.
Five ‘waves’
During the Ba’ath era in the Federal Iraq and Kurdistan region, up to 290,000 people, including some 100,000 Kurds, were forcibly disappeared as part of Saddam Hussein’s genocidal campaign in Iraqi Kurdistan, the report said.
The second “wave” of disappearances covers the 2003 invasion and subsequent occupation, to the pre-ISIL period. During this time, the United States military and allies captured at least 200,000 Iraqis. Of this number, 96,000 were held at some point in prisons administered by the US or the United Kingdom.
“It is alleged that detainees were arrested without a warrant for their involvement in insurgency operations, while others were ‘civilians in the wrong place at the wrong time’”, the Committee said.
ISIL atrocities
The report documented how ISIL’s proclamation of an Islamic caliphate, including a large swathe of Iraq, saw new rounds of abductions and mass killings of Iraqi soldiers or security forces from 2014 to 2017.
The situation deteriorated further when Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) conducted military operations to retake major cities from the extremists, during which pro-Government forces disappeared thousands of Sunni Arabs, mainly men and boys.
More enforced disappearances occurred during the wave of demonstrations in Iraq from 2018 to 2020, when thousands took to the street to protest against corruption.
Legislation and investigation
The UN Committee urged the Iraqi Government to immediately include enforced disappearances as a separate offence in national legislation as currently it cannot be prosecuted.
Members also called for establishing a comprehensive search and investigation strategy for all cases of disappearances, and they encouraged the authorities to strengthen and enlarge the scope of national forensic investigations.
“Iraq must also immediately establish an independent task force to cross-check systematically the registers of all places of deprivation of liberty with the names of all detainees,” the Committee said. “The task force must ensure that all detainees are registered and that their relatives are duly informed of their whereabouts.”
Address secret detention allegations
Iraq should also clarify persistent allegations of secret detention, which the State has denied. In this regard, the authorities should establish an independent commission that would carry out a fact-finding mission to verify whether secret places of detention exist.
The Iraqi authorities were also urged to take legislative and judicial measures to address the needs and rights of victims.
About the UN Committee
The Committee on Enforced Disappearances was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The independent experts are not UN staff, and do not receive a salary for their work.
While in Iraq, the delegation also observed developments surrounding two exhumations and visited a provisional centre of DNA identification in the northern city of Sinjar, home to the Yazidi community, among other activities.
“On the day we visited Jindairis in northern Syria, one of the areas most affected by the February earthquake, the weather conditions were very bad. A mobile medical clinic housed in a tent was lifted off the ground by high winds scattering supplies and medical instruments.
UN News/Shirin Yaseen
Young girls play at a reception center for displaced people in Jindairis, Aleppo governorate.
The dreams of the children in this camp are simple. One told me that she needs glasses, another decent shoes so she can walk the camp’s unpaved roads. A young girl, Ahlam, told me all she just wanted was to go back to school. A mother asked for a wheelchair for her 20-year-old daughter.
Earthquake experience
In another camp, in Idleb, called Kammonah I met Yazi Khaled Al-Abdullah whose suffering reflects the experience of hundreds of thousands of people who were made homeless as a result of the earthquake.
She told me how at four o’clock in the morning she felt shaking but didn’t know what was happening. Her children told her not to be afraid and after they all left their house it collapsed. It was rainy and they were shivering from cold, but didn’t know what to do or where to go.
UN News/Shirin Yaseen
Yazi Khaled Al-Abdullah has been living in a tent following the earthquake.
They ended up at Kammonah camp and were advised to sign up for a shelter. A month after the quake they are still living in a tent with two other families.
Yazi Khaled Al-Abdullah told me that she loves to cook but doesn’t have pots or a gas stove. Sometimes prepared food, usually rice, is provided, but she has diabetes, so is not getting the nutrition that she needs.
She and her family are desperate to return home even if that means living a very basic life. She used an Arabic expression which says that even if they have only dirt to eat, they still want to go back to their hometown.
Her family left Sinjar eight years ago because of the war in Syria and spent time here and there. She told me her son and husband were working their land and tending sheep when they were killed by a plane. In her words, they have become martyrs.
I also met Mazyad Abdul Majeed Al-Zayed, who runs the Ajnadayn camp in Jindairis and who himself is a victim of the earthquake.
He explained the difficult conditions in which the camp residents live, due to a shortage of everything, including tents. Mobile clinics operate in the area, but they lack medicine and come only sporadically.
UN News/Shireen Yaseen
Mazyad Abdel-Majeed Al-Zayed, manages Ajnadayn camp in Jindairis.
He said the camp is miserable and that he did not bring his family here as he could not bear to see them live in such conditions.
Later I visited tents set up opposite the Al-Rafa Specialized Hospital in Jindairis, which housed mobile clinics, including one for children and one for women.
Patients and visitors are received daily in these clinics, which were established several days after the earthquake.
The hospital is surrounded by destroyed buildings, and the medical staff live and work in the same conditions as the people they are treating.
The medical system in this part of Syria was overburdened even before the earthquake, and now the medical staff is exhausted and equipment is almost completely broken.
Countless people affected by the earthquake have sought refuge in this area in northwestern Syria. Many did so to escape the war which has been raging for 12 years now.
UN News/Shirin Yaseen
The UN launched a $400 million humanitarian appeal to support displaced families.
A woman I spoke to said she had no idea what her future would hold having fled over a period of five years from Saraqib to Afrin, which was bombed, and then to Jindairis.
I met and spoke to so many people including young unaccompanied children who had been separated from their parents, whose lives had been upended by the war and then the earthquake.
But I also met people who had hope and optimism for a brighter future. I met diligent and caring aid workers who partner the UN and who try every day to improve the lives of those affected.
Meanwhile, the UN has launched a $400 million humanitarian appeal, and continues to work with its partners to ensure that relief supplies reach the most vulnerable people.
“It is now time to bring them home,” they said. “Many children are now entering their fifth year of detention in northeast Syria, since they were detained by the de facto authorities following the fall of Baghouz in early 2019.”
They called on all actors to ensure the immediate safety and protection of all children, regardless of their location in northeastern Syria to prevent them from suffering further harm.
States have an obligation to protect vulnerable children from abuse and possible violations of their right to life, as recognized by the Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Victims of terrorism
“Their best interests as extremely vulnerable children must be reinstated as a guiding principle together with their primary status as victims of terrorism and as children in need of special protection under international law,” they said.
Al-Hol and Roj are the two largest locked camps for women, girls, and young boys, holding about 56,000 individuals, including 37,000 foreign nationals. Over half of the population in the camps are children, of which 80 per cent are under the age of 12 and 30 per cent under five.
There are also over 850 boys deprived of their liberty in prisons and other detention centres, including supposed rehabilitation centres, throughout northeast Syria.
Egregious rights violations
The mass detention of children for what their parents may have done is an egregious violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prohibits all forms of discrimination and punishment of a child based on the status, activities, expressed opinions, or beliefs of their parents, the experts said.
“These children are detained without any legal basis, judicial authorization, review, control, or oversight, in violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which affirms no child shall be deprived of liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily,” they said.
‘No place for children’
Most children have known nothing but conflict and closed camps, where the life conditions amount to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment and pose an imminent risk to their lives, physical and mental integrity, and development.
“These squalid camps are no place for children to live with dignity,” the experts said. “They lack access to the most basic needs such as medical treatment and health services, food, water, and education.”
Protection, not punishment
Amid a deteriorating security situation, the experts said all children in this conflict zone deserve to be protected, not punished.
“These children are victims of terrorism and of very serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, and must be treated with dignity in all contexts, whether armed conflict or terrorism,” the experts said. “Safe return to their home countries, in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, is the only solution and must be prioritized.
“States must urgently repatriate children, together with their mothers – a solution that we now know is eminently feasible,” they said. “We note that it is of the utmost importancethat comprehensive rehabilitation programmes are in place when children are repatriated.”
About Special Rapporteurs
Special Rapporteurs are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, which is based in Geneva. These independent experts are mandated to monitor and report on specific thematic issues or country situations. They are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work.
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