Views of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on a matter concerning Al-Hol camp

On 12 September 2022, the United Nations (UN) Committee on the Rights of the Child issued its views on a communication against Finland concerning Finnish children held in the Al-Hol camp in northeast Syria. The views were made public on 12 October 2022. The communication was submitted by relatives of some of the children held in the Al-Hol camp. The Committee concludes that Finland is in violation of Article 6(1) (right to life) and Article 37(a) (prohibition of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The Committee notes that Finland has the capability to protect the children in question by taking action to repatriate them or by providing other consular responses. The Committee further notes that the arguments, which are supported by evidence, that the living conditions, including the lack of food and water, pose an imminent and foreseeable threat to the lives of all children held in the Al-Hol camp. The Committee considers that Finland's failure to protect the children constitutes a violation of Article 6(1) of the Convention.

Moreover, the Committee considers that the prolonged detention of the children in the life-threatening conditions described, including in particular the lack of healthcare, food, water, sanitation facilities and education, constitutes the cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment referred to in Article 37(a) of the Convention. The Committee notes that Finland is aware of the conditions and is capable of taking action. Therefore, Finland has a positive obligation to protect the children not only from an imminent risk of violation of their right to life but also an actual violation of their right not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

The Committee considers that Finland is under an obligation to provide the authors of the communication and the child victims with effective reparation for the violations suffered and to prevent similar violations from occurring in the future. In this regard, the Committee recommends that Finland take urgent positive measures to repatriate the child victims, acting in good faith, and support the reintegration and resettlement of each child who has been repatriated or resettled. The Committee recommends that Finland take additional measures, in the meantime, to mitigate the risks to the lives, survival and development of the child victims while they remain in the northeast of the Syrian Arab Republic.

Finland must report to the Committee within 180 days on the steps taken to give effect to the Committee’s Views.

The Committee's Views (pdf)