The world’s most notorious detention camp holding children, the infamous al-Hol camp in northeast Syria, where tens of thousands of family members of alleged ISIS fighters were held for seven years, has been emptied and closed.
The chaotic period leading up to the sudden closure included fighting nearby, as the Syrian government wrested control of the region from one-time close U.S. partners, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which had controlled the area and held tens of thousands of people arbitrarily detained in al-Hol and a similar camp, Roj, as well as in various informal prisons and other types of detention centers that held suspected former ISIS-linked individuals, including youths. Al-Hol most recently had held about 23,400 people (mostly women, children, and older people) in squalid conditions. Most were from Syria and neighboring Iraq, but about 27 percent, or 6,300 people, were from more than 50 countries other than Syria. Amid the shifts in control over the area, detainees left or were taken elsewhere in a series of irregular transfers and a haphazard process that left already destitute families with children in an even more-vulnerable position.
Responsible states have the power to end this security chaos and human suffering, including at Roj (more on that camp below), but also wherever these families were taken. This critical moment underscores the urgency for governments of the detainees’ countries of origin such as Bosnia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Australia, to step forward and uphold their obligations toward their citizens. There is no room for further delay.
From Extrajudicial Detention to Uncontrolled Displacement
The families at al-Hol had been held in extrajudicial detention since the 2019 fall of the self-styled ISIS ”caliphate.” SDF forces withdrew from al-Hol camp during last month’s fighting and political shifts in northeast Syria, as the new post-Assad government in Damascus of President Ahmad Al-Sharaa seeks to consolidate the central government’s control over the country and pursue reforms and reconstruction. But there was no organized handover or repatriation process in place for the detainees. Alongside family of suspected ISIS members were victims of human trafficking, Yazidi women and children who had been hostages of ISIS after the group’s attacks on their communities in 2014, and local Syrians who were swept up simply for having lived in areas once under ISIS control.
Syrian authorities announced on Feb. 22 that they had officially ended the era of al-Hol camp. But families reportedly already had been moved to Idlib, Deir ez-Zor, and other parts of Syria since at least the end of January. Available accounts suggest these transfers were not conducted through coordinated or official procedures; there is still little verified information about how these mass transfers took place, who ordered them, or under what authority, much less who was taken where. Families who left al-Hol with whom I’ve spoken from their new locations are not even certain whether they have been liberated or effectively abducted. At first, they thought it was the Syrian government that took them from al-Hol, but now they are being told to hide if they see Syrian military forces in the streets, so it is unclear who has custody of them. (Separately, U.S. forces transferred thousands of adult males in the SDF prisons to Iraq.)
That level of uncertainty alone illustrates the acute protection risks children now face. The collapse of al-Hol camp brings longstanding state responsibility into sharp and unavoidable focus.
From Predictable Failure to New Risks
For years, many warned, including in these pages, that holding people in prolonged, lawless detention would end in harm that would compound the years of damage already wrought in the camps, and before that, in the war. What is unfolding with these camps and other detention sites in northeast Syria is the predictable result of prolonged international abandonment and failure to take responsibility. Responsible states have had the opportunities to repatriate their citizens under controlled protocols, but many have chosen not to. In addition to the above, countries of origin include Morocco, the U.K., and Turkey.
Ending arbitrary detention was necessary, but it should never happen through chaos. The responsible states, in coordination with the Syrian authorities, and existing repatriation mechanisms, must urgently establish safe, dignified, and internationally coordinated processes that focus, at the very least, on protecting the children. How many more crises must these children be forced to try to survive?
Without documentation, protection mechanisms, or safe pathways home, children and their caregivers are highly vulnerable to trafficking, coercion, exploitation, and recruitment by armed or violent extremist groups. This is an immediate and real threat.
What the collapse of al-Hol camp has also made clear is that this detention system was not only unlawful and a humanitarian catastrophe, but fundamentally unsustainable. The lessons from this dark chapter must be heeded now and going forward to ensure that similar mistakes are not repeated in the future. In the immediate term, these lessons must be applied to the remaining detention camp in northeast Syria, Roj. If it is allowed to dissolve without a managed, rights-based exit strategy, the same chaos as with al-Hol camp will be repeated.
More than 2,200 individuals, the vast majority of them third-country national children and their mothers, remain stranded in Roj camp, which at the time of writing remains under SDF control. Reports over the past month have described escalating violence against families inside the camp. For the women and children still there, the uncertainty and distress is enormous. Many fear that leaving the camp may not mean a safe, controlled return home, but instead irregular transfers by non-state armed actors and extremist groups, forced displacement within Syria, or new forms of custody against their will.
Children belong in schools, in families, and in protective environments, not in detention camps, conflict, and war.
Many of these third-country-national women with whom my colleagues and I have spoken want to return to their countries of origin, start over in life, and ensure their children’s safety. Many have told us they are reaching out directly to their governments, desperately requesting consular assistance. So far, those calls have gone unanswered. Relatives around the world are facing a total information vacuum about what will happen next for their family members, intensifying fear and desperation.
Adolescent Boys at Extreme Risk
The situation of adolescent boys is particularly alarming. Many were brought to Syria as children and had no agency in that decision. Some were later placed in so-called “youth rehabilitation centers,” which in reality were detention facilities for minors. Over time, many turned 18 while confined. There are now reports that these centers stand empty, and concerns that boys may have been transferred to Iraq alongside adult detainees. If so, they risk being treated as adult perpetrators rather than recognized as child victims, potentially facing severe sentences, even the death penalty. Responsible states must intervene to ensure these boys are protected in line with international law.
Survival Should Not Depend on Family Heroism
In mid-February, Eva, a girl from Albania, was finally reunited with her family. She was 9 years old when her father brought her and her 7-year-old brother with him to Syria in 2014, without her mother’s knowledge. After he was killed fighting for ISIS, she and her brother were left behind. No authorities intervened, until Albania finally repatriated her brother in 2020. At one point, her grandmother travelled to Syria to rescue her, only to be detained by SDF and placed in al-Hol alongside her granddaughter. After six years in the camp, the grandmother died, leaving Eva alone once again. When al-Hol dissolved, Eva’s uncle managed to locate her, get her across the border to Turkey, and bring her home. Eva survived because a family member made extraordinary efforts to compensate for state inaction.
A similar case occurred in 2019, when Swedish musician Patricio Galvéz’ seven grandchildren were detained in al-Hol. His daughter and her husband, an ISIS fighter, had been killed in Syria. Swedish authorities initially failed to intervene to rescue the children, despite his pleas. Ultimately, he travelled to Syria himself in an effort to bring them home. The intense publicity he generated in pleading for the Swedish government to act, eventually resulted in their return. Without that intervention, it is far from certain that the children would have survived. (After this rescue operation, Galvéz co-founded our organization, Repatriate the Children (RTC) Sweden, together with me and Gorki Glaser-Müller, who were also part of bringing the seven orphans home.)
After seven years of such cases related to al-Hol, it should be evident that children abroad in clear distress and need of consular services cannot be abandoned. It should never require relatives to take such risks to protect a child who is a victim of war and terrorism.
Recovery Is Possible and Prevents Radicalization
After following Galvéz’ grandchildren for seven years, as well as other repatriated families across several countries, my colleagues and I who’ve been supporting their reintegration know that recovery is possible. Once evacuated from the camps, and brought back to their countries of origin, children returned to school, built friendships, and began to stabilize.
Adults suspected of crimes were investigated, while children were protected where needed. In most cases, recovery was strongest when children were supported by their mothers and extended family, alongside public services and civil society organizations working together.
After seven years of international mismanagement related to the detention of, at one point, more than 70,000 individuals in northeast Syria, the situation has reached a breaking point. Repatriation is how families, especially children, are protected from exploitation and new cycles of violence. Children’s rights are legal commitments that apply to every child. Some states, such as North Macedonia and Kazakhstan, took responsibility earlier and developed plans to help their citizens return and stabilize.
More states must now come through and take responsibility for all of their citizens. This is the only way to prevent further radicalization and protect children and mothers from exploitation.
FEATURED IMAGE: Children unload items off the back of a truck at the Akbaran camp near Akhtarin, in the north of Syria’s Aleppo province, on February 17, 2026, now holding people arriving from the al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria. (Photo by OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP via Getty Images)
Great Job Beatrice Eriksson & the Team @ Just Security for sharing this story.
