You would be forgiven to think that the Islamic State has ceased to exist.
The organisation no longer controls any significant swaths of territory in either Syria or Iraq. Coordinated and motivated terrorist attacks abroad, particularly in Western countries, has declined considerably. The organisation’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed during a United States (US) operation in October of 2019. While US President Donald Trump has declared that “100% of the ISIS Caliphate” has been defeated, and as a result, is withdrawing significant amounts of US forces from the region.
However, the demise of the Islamic State is grossly exaggerated. While there is no organised entity with its own territory to point towards, the ideas promoted, the societal grievances exploited, and supporters attracted, continue to persist beyond the purported defeat of the Islamic State.
Central to this is the Al-Hawl refugee camp in Northern Syria. Established by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Al-Hawl became home to those displaced during the Gulf War and later Iraq War. The refugee camp has taken on a renewed importance throughout the Syrian civil war. Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) captured Al-Hawl from the Islamic State in November 2015 and have since been in control of the refugee camp. At the start of 2019 the camp was home to 10,000 people, but just a few months later approximately 74,000 people live at the camp. A surge brought about through the territorial collapse of the Islamic State and the fall of Baghouz in March of 2019. Of these numbers, just 10,000 are displaced civilians, the remaining 60,000 are women and children with links to the Islamic State.
This has left the SDF in a precarious position as they seek to maintain control of the camp. The Turkish incursion into Northern Syria paired with the withdrawal of US forces in the region has forced the SDF to divert its existing resources away from managing the camp. Its estimated that at most 300 SDF guards remain at Al-Hawl, with this number continuing to decline in response to broader developments within Syria. This translates to at most, one guard at the camp per 240 people. As a result, there lacks a sufficient capacity to govern within Al-Hawl, let alone one that could facilitate the reintegration and rehabilitation of people into a post-Islamic State society.
The territorial defeat of the Islamic State does not equate to the end of the ideas it pushed for. With an approximate 85% of those at the camp having links to the Islamic State, these ideas have been allowed to endure within Al-Hawl due to the absence of any governance within the camp. Supporters within Al-Hawl have formed their own Hisba, a form of unofficial police that enforces adherence to the Islamic States interpretations. The Hisba have actively punished those in the camp who fail to adhere to these interpretations, including beating a pregnant Indonesian woman to death in 2019. Secret courts were also established to assist with enforcement. When the SDF sought to intervene and stop these Courts, they were faced with a riot in the camp and weapons turned on them.
One of the more alarming issues in Al-Hawl is that of its most vulnerable cohort of people, the children who live there. An estimated 20,000 of those in Al-Hawl are below the age of five, and as a result, a world with the Islamic State is all that they have known. The conditions at the camp are clearly inadequate for any child, let alone 20,000. There is minimal education provided to these children, and where it is, its normally an extension of the education they received under the Islamic State. The threat of, and exposure to violence persists on a day to day basis in Al-Hawl, which threatens the wellbeing of these children both in the short and long-term. Compounding all of this is an increased susceptibility to health-related issues. The camp is overcrowded, malnutrition is rampant, water and sanitation conditions are inadequate, and there is lack of access to basic healthcare services. An estimated 371 children died at Al-Hawl in 2019 alone. With the world in the midst of a pandemic, the potential risks to these children cannot be overstated.
Adding to the plethora of issues brewing in Al-Hawl, approximately 11,000 foreigners with links to the Islamic State reside in a separate part of the camp. This includes at least 7000 children, and 3000 women. The SDF has long called on the international community to assist with this section of the camp by repatriating these women and children back to their home countries. Such requests have gone ignored as governments across the world refuse to accept any responsibility for their own citizens. Instead, they have taken active measures to inhibit their return, including stripping them of their citizenship. Justification for which boils down to that they made the choice to travel to the region and must deal with the consequences of their actions. As well as the potential security threats posed should they return to their home country. While their return has also been proven politically unpopular. In a 2019 newspoll 59% of respondents said they opposed any efforts by the Australian government to repatriate Australian citizens still in Syria. This has left the already resource deprived SDF with the sole responsibility to manage these people and bear the costs of their continued presence in the country.
With all of these issues in mind, the response of the international community to the Al-Hawl refugee camp has been nothing short of an abject failure. While the fight against the Islamic State may appear to be over, the grievances that precipitated their emergence, and the effects of their presence, continue to live on. Failing to recognise this will do more harm than good. After leading the fight on the ground, the SDF has been abandoned by its closest allies in a time when they needed them most. The international community has failed to put in place appropriate measures to address the issue of former members and supporters of the Islamic State. There is 20,000 children who continue to live in abysmal conditions. While states refuse to do what is right and take responsibility for their own citizens. Now more than ever, the international community must not turn a blind eye to the 74,000 people living in the Al-Hawl refugee camp.
