This archive report was first published on 4 July 2019.
Published on July 4, 2019, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned of the dire situation in Syria's al-Hol camp, where over 100,000 people are struggling to survive.
According to Fabrizio Carboni, who heads the ICRC's Near and Middle East operations, the camp is housing more than 70,000 people, including over 11,000 family members of suspected IS fighters from dozens of countries.
"One hundred thousand people who spent the last months, if not years, under the bombs, starved, wounded, sick, traumatised," Carboni said, describing the situation as 'apocalyptic'.
The ICRC is one of the main humanitarian organisations providing assistance inside the overfilled camp, which is facing extreme difficulties due to its unstable location and disputed area.
Carboni condemned the stigmatisation of people, especially children, and efforts to create 'categories of good victims and bad victims', saying that kids can't be anything else than just victims.
He urged governments to take responsibility for repatriating their nationals, including children, and warned that putting off dealing with this issue would only lead to a higher price in the future.
