A/HRC/37/72 Annex III Internally displaced persons 1. Beyond civilian casualties and destruction of civilian property wrought by campaigns to combat and ultimately defeat ISIL in Raqqah and Dayr al-Zawr,1 aerial and ground operations during the period under review triggered one of the single largest waves of internally displaced persons since the inception of the conflict. By June, tens of thousands of Syrian men, women, and children from Raqqah and Dayr al-Zawr began perilous journeys to escape both locales by crossing active frontlines and risking landmines, only to relocate to desert camps administered by the SDF in northern Raqqah and Hasakah governorates. The total number of displaced persons who fled Raqqah and Dayr al-Zawr since July stands at over 319,000 individuals — comprising at least 90,000 from Raqqah, and at least 229,000 from Dayr al-Zawr. 2. Beginning in May, the SDF, Asayish (Kurdish civilian police), and Kurdish military intelligence employed a systematic vetting procedure to assess the threat of all individuals fleeing Raqqah and Dayr al-Zawr for possible connections to ISIL. Tens of thousands of individuals who fled clashes were required to cross checkpoints and register in SDFcontrolled camps for vetting, where SDF confiscated every encamped individual’s identification documents (national card, family booklet, and/or passport). SDF initially established three emergency transit points where displaced persons transferred through prior to being sent on to larger camps: two are located in southern Hasakah (al-Karama and al-Shadadi camps), and one northwest of Raqqah city (al-Twehnah camp). 3. As hostilities increased so too did the rate of internally displaced persons, whereupon four larger, informal camps/managed sites administered by SDF began receiving hundreds of daily new arrivals. These camps currently host approximately 20,000 internally displaced persons in each, totalling at least 80,000 individuals. They are scattered throughout desolate areas in Kurdish-held northern Syria, and located in al-Sad near Arisha, and Mabrouka village (Hasakah), and Ain Issa Cotton Factory and Slouk village (Raqqah). 4. Through the use of road closures, checkpoints, and the requirement of transit permits, SDF created a coercive environment whereby Syrians displaced from Raqqah and Dayr al-Zawr who fled north were left with no choice but to transit through camps, amounting to de facto detention from the moment of capture. Many were driven to the camps in pickup trucks by armed SDF, while those able to find and pay smugglers evaded the vetting process. During the reporting period, conditions throughout all camps failed to meet satisfactory conditions of shelter, hygiene, health, safety, and/or nutrition. 2 SDF soldiers further regularly extorted money from internally displaced persons in exchange for food, water, and for returning their identification documents to leave the camps. Though located primarily in the Syrian desert, the advent of winter has rendered encamped internally displaced persons more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. A. Conditions in camps of internally displaced persons 5. Displaced persons in al-Sad, Mabrouka, and Ain Issa Cotton Factory camps frequently reported a lack of even the most basic resources in each, though to varying degree. In al-Sad (Hasakah), some internally displaced persons recalled sleeping on the desert soil upon arrival because no tents were provided to them. Those in need of medical treatment often were not granted medical evacuations to a city hospital in Hasakah unless they could pay SDF camp authorities. One encamped civilian described only witnessing a 1 2 See A/HRC/37/72, paras. 36–41 and 50–56. Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, United Nations Economic and Social Council, E/CN.4/1998/53/Add.2, 11 February 1998 [hereinafter “UN Guiding Principles”], at Introduction 3(c), and Principles 18–19. 27