The Iraqi government has announced plans to repatriate by early 2023 more than 150 people from the Al Hol displaced persons camp in northeastern Syria, which hosts thousands of family members of Islamic State members, mostly women and children, although there are also detainees who have no connection to the jihadist group.
The Iraqi Minister for Displacement and Migration, Ivan Fayaq, has indicated that «there are more than 8,000 (Iraqi) families in the Al Hol camp» and has stressed that «the repatriation process will resume at the beginning of next year», as reported by the Kurdish television channel Rudaw.
Thus, he said that these procedures will be launched once security checks are carried out on each of the returnees and stressed that among the main beneficiaries will be women and children «without any connection to the Islamic State».
Fayad specified that those to be repatriated will also have to undergo a rehabilitation program lasting at least one month, which will take place in the Al Jada camp before being transferred to their original place of residence in Iraq.
Several NGOs have raised alarms about the situation in the camp, the scene of killings and attacks amid the absence of adequate living conditions, and have called on countries with nationals in Al Hol to speed up the repatriations.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
