UN: 12 Killed in Al-Hol Camp in Syria

The United Nations said, on Thursday, that it has received reports of 12 Syrian and Iraqi nationals were murdered in the first half of January at the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp in northeast Syria.

“We are calling on those authorities who control the security in the camp to ensure the safety of residents but also the humanitarian workers,” Jens Laerke, spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, stated on Friday.

“All of that delivery is being thrown into jeopardy when the level of security rises to what we see now,” Laerke told a U.N. briefing in Geneva.

Al-Hol camp, controlled by Syrian Kurdish forces, holds 62,000 people, of whom more than 80 percent are women and children from many countries such as Syria, Iraq, and thousands from as far afield as Europe and Asia.

"Between 1 and 16 January, the UN received reports of the murders of 12 Syrian and Iraqi camp residents," the UN said in a statement, adding that an Iraqi woman was among those killed.

"The disturbing events indicate an increasingly untenable security environment at Al-Hol," the statement added.

The statement noted that Imran Riza, UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria, and Muhannad Hadi, the Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis, expressed their "serious concern over the deteriorating security conditions" at the camp.

The two UN officials also stressed the "urgent need for durable solutions to be found for every person living in the camp."

“The recent rise in violence... jeopardizes the ability for the UN and humanitarian partners to continue to safely deliver critical humanitarian assistance,” the statement asserted.