There were 12 murders of Syrian and Iraqi residents of a Syrian displaced persons camp in the first half of January.
The murders at the Al Hol camp in northeast Syria, the country’s largest camp for refugees and internally displaced people in Syria, is a matter of “serious concern,” United Nations Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria, Imran Riza, said in a statement issued on Thursday. “The recent rise in violence among the camp population not only represents a tragic loss of life, it also jeopardizes the ability for the UN and humanitarian partners to continue to safely deliver critical humanitarian assistance and services to residents,” according to the statement, which also was signed by Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis, Muhannad Hadi
Some 80% of the camp’s 62,000 residents are women and children, according to the statement.
“The disturbing events indicate an increasingly untenable security environment at Al Hol,” the statement said. It said that there is an “urgent need for durable solutions to be found for every person living in the camp.”
Most of the Iraqi and Syrian residents of the camp fled fighting between the Islamic State and Kurdish forces, after ISIS seized areas of Iraq and Syria in 2014, according to AFP.