SORGUL ŞÊXO

Hesekê – The al-Hol refugee camp, located 45 kilometers away from the city of Hesekê in North-East Syria, was built in 1991 for Iraqi refugees. Thousands of Iraqi families flocked to the camp after the attacks of Daesh. On March 28, security forces of NE Syria launched an operation in the camp run by 33 humanitarian organizations.

Being one of the administrators of the al-Hol refugee camp, Hemrîn Hesen evaluated the situation in the camp. Hemrîn Hesen told us that 11.000 children go to 14 schools in the camp, “We think that more than 6.000 Iraqi and Syrian children don’t go to school, because the children don’t have a place where they can receive an education. Now we have 140 children, who don’t have parents. Stating that some schools can be managed by organizations such as IRC and UNICEF, Hemrîn Hesen said that the schools have used the curricula of the Syrian and Iraqi governments and that the education is partially in the Kurdish language.

Stating that they can find solutions for the education of Iraqi and Syrian children, but not other children due to the lack of a common language in the camp, Hemrîn Hesen said, “There are many people from different countries and they speak different languages. There is a serious education problem due to the lack of a common language in education. Moreover, no step has been taken particularly for the children’s education and psychology.”

“Daesh has a negative effect on children”

Talking about the negative effect of Daesh on children, Hemrîn Hesen told us, “Even if the children go to schools, they are affected when they go to their homes. The parents send their children to schools but the children don’t want to learn something at school because they are educated at their homes particularly the children of women already affected by Daesh.”

Hemrîn Hesen reported that the women having links with Daesh don’t want their children to receive education at schools but religious education at home. “The families want to determine the future of their children. They want their children to learn how to behead people and burn people not to learn how to be people having freedom of thought. For this reason, they secretly teach their children. The children, who will grow up in the camp, may be dangerous for the world in the future.”

“Number of homicides has dropped”

On March 28, the North East Syrian Internal Security Forces including Women's Defense Units (YPJ), People's Defense Units (YPG), and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced that they launched an operation to ensure security in al-Hol Camp and deliver humanitarian aid to the camp. Hemrîn Hesen talked about the operation and she told us that the number of homicides has dropped since the operation was launched.