People detained following the territorial defeat of the Islamic State (IS) armed group are facing systematic violations and dying in large numbers due to inhumane conditions in north-east Syria.
The region’s autonomous authorities are responsible for the large-scale violation of the rights of more than 56,000 people in their custody. This includes an estimated 11,500 men, 14,500 women, and 30,000 children held in at least 27 detention facilities and two detention camps – Al-Hol and Roj. The autonomous authorities are the principal partner of the US government and other coalition members who defeated IS in north-east Syria. The USA is involved in most aspects of the detention system.
More than five years after the territorial defeat of IS, tens of thousands of people remain arbitrarily and indefinitely detained. Many are held in inhumane conditions and have been subjected to torture, including severe beatings, stress positions, electric shocks, and gender-based violence. Thousands more have been forcibly disappeared. Women have been unlawfully separated from their children.
Among those held in the detention system are IS victims. Scores, if not hundreds, of Yezidi victims are among those detained. Many other detained women and girls are victims of forced marriage to IS members, and many detained boys and young men are victims of child recruitment by IS.
Learn More
Read Amnesty’s landmark April 2024 research report: Aftermath: Injustice, Torture and Death in Detention in North-East Syria.
New law paves way for justice for prisoners convicted in flawed trials in north-east Syria.
Yezidi survivors of Islamic State atrocities abandoned to indefinite detention in north-east Syria.
Among the thousands of detainees are some 19 Canadians. Read about Sally Lane’s campaign for her son Jack Letts.
