UN Women report calls for protection and justice for Al-Hol’s women and children after years of indefinite detention

[Press release]

Damascus, Syria – The recently announced agreement between the Government of Syria and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) presents a critical opportunity to strengthen the protection of the human rights and dignity of women and girls detained in Al-Hol Camp. UN Women reiterates the Secretary-General’s welcoming of the agreement and call for all parties to prioritize civilian protection and fully uphold international human rights obligations. UN Women reaffirms its deep concern over the prolonged and severe protection risks women and children have endured in Al-Hol and documents these risks in a new report calling for justice-centered solutions and safe, rights-based reintegration.  

Drawing on extensive field research, including over 1,500 interviews and surveys with Syrian, Iraqi, and third-country nationals, the report “Understanding the Lives of the Women, Men, and Children of Al-Hol Camp”, reconstructs the human stories behind Al-Hol’s statistics: stories of loss, survival, and resilience shaped by poverty, early marriage, displacement, and the trauma of war.

Following years of conflict in Syria and the territorial collapse of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh), Al-Hol Camp near the Syria–Iraq border has become a stark symbol of the region’s protection crisis.  More than 24,000 people, most of them women and children, remain in conditions of prolonged and indefinite detention. alongside wider humanitarian disruptions affecting communities across northeast Syria, and further compounding vulnerability and displacement.

“This report highlights that the majority of women in Al-Hol are survivors of systemic human rights violations,” said Ajay Madiwale, UN Women Syria Coordinator. “Prolonged detention without charge or due process is not only unlawful, it traps generations of women and children in cycles of deprivation, exclusion, and stigma, undermining prospects for recovery and longer-term peace.”

Key Findings

• Most people in Al-Hol Camp have been detained without clear legal reasons. Many have no proven links to ISIL/Da’esh and were detained simply because of their family ties or circumstances, not because of anything they did.
• Over 90 per cent of the camp’s residents are women and children, most from impoverished, rural, and conflict-affected areas along the Syria–Iraq border who endured loss, displacement, and multiple forms of violence before their arrival.
• Women face multiple forms of harm and exploitation, including forced marriages, restricted mobility, and dependence on absent or imprisoned male relatives, and have been exposed to violence, trafficking, and denial of justice.
• Severe poverty and conservative norms have led to the collapse of education and a rise in child marriage, with 73 percent of heads of household having only primary schooling or less, fueling early and repeated marriages as survival strategies.

“We felt the sadness of our situation deeply, having lost all the men in our lives. Life in the camp was harsh, with cold, rain, and floods running under our tents due to the heavy rain. We had always relied on our brothers and husbands to handle such things, but now we were helpless,” said Salwa, a young woman from Aleppo, describing her family’s sense of loss at the separation.

UN Women calls on national authorities, humanitarian partners, and the international community to uphold international human rights and humanitarian law in all detention, screening, and return processes; to prioritize reintegration and social cohesion programmes that specifically support women and their communities in Syria and Iraq; and to address the root causes of women’s exclusion, including poverty, loss of education, and the absence of legal protection, which continue to fuel cycles of violence and displacement.

“Reintegrating the women and children in Al-Hol is a test of our collective humanity,” said Ajay Madiwale, UN Women Syria Coordinator. “Their stories call on us to replace the stigma they face with justice, dignity, and hope.”

While significant challenges persist, recent political developments in the country, including progress on transitional justice mechanisms, improved UN engagement, and increasing returns of refugees and internally displaced people, signal a moment of transition. This context heightens the need to resolve situations of prolonged and arbitrary detention, including in Al-Hol, in line with international law and as part of sustainable peace and recovery efforts.

About the report

The report draws on qualitative and quantitative data from 1,500 respondents collected in 2024, including oral histories from widows, mothers, and youth across Syria and Iraq.

It provides policy recommendations that reflect women’s realities and needs, guiding governments, humanitarian agencies, and civil society actors to guide safe return, legal review, and reintegration pathways consistent with human rights standards.

About UN Women:

UN Women advances women’s rights, the empowerment of all women and girls and equality between women and men. As the lead UN entity on women’s empowerment, we support advancement of laws, institutions, social behaviours and services to close the gap between women and men and build an equal world for all. We keep the rights of women and girls at the centre of global progress – always, everywhere. Women’s empowerment is not just what we do. It is who we are.