Intervention at the D-ISIS Coalition FTF Working Group

Good morning and thank you all for being here. I would like to thank our Working Group co-leads Türkiye, Kuwait, and the Netherlands for organizing and arranging this event, and a special thank you to our Dutch colleagues for hosting us.

As one of the U.S. Department of State’s Deputy Coordinators for Counterterrorism, I oversee Terrorist Detentions and Countering Violent Extremism for the Department.

I will use my time today to give you a brief overview of the United States’ perspective on the issue of repatriation from northeast Syria, including by sharing some of the progress we made in 2023, and underscoring the urgency for continued and accelerated progress in 2024.

Many of you have heard me say that the only durable solution to the grave challenges posed by the detention facilities and displaced persons camps in northeast Syria is for countries to repatriate their nationals from northeast Syria. And once they return home, to rehabilitate and reintegrate these individuals into their communities of origin, and where appropriate, to prosecute and incarcerate those individuals found guilty of committing crimes.

This statement remains true, and the urgency for action has never been more clear than it is right now.

While the overall population of al-Hol has decreased over the last several years, approximately 46,000 people, mostly women and children, continue to reside in al-Hol and Roj displaced persons camps. I would like to remind everyone that most of these

46,000 individuals are vulnerable children under the age of 12 who made no decision to be there. The risks they face remain high; they are without access to quality education and healthcare. And they remain vulnerable to those who will seek to radicalize them to violence.

And as long as these children remain in these dreadful circumstances, our collective failure to remove them makes us complicit in their misery and ongoing deprivation.

We have made significant progress over the last few years, but we are not done. In 2023, almost 5,500 individuals were repatriated or returned to their countries or communities of origin from northeast Syria. This figure includes more than 4,000 Iraqis and individuals from 20 countries.

I want to commend the Government of Iraq which has demonstrated real leadership on this issue. If Iraq can make progress at the scale it has, and continue to do so, there is no excuse for countries with small numbers of citizens in northeast Syria to leave them there. Surely those governments too can repatriate and manage a handful of individuals upon their return home.

I also again want to thank the Government of Kuwait. Without Kuwait’s support, these repatriations to third countries would not have happened. Hundreds of individuals from dozens of countries, mostly children, would be without the opportunity for a better life in their home countries but for Kuwait’s provision of logistical support to U.S. facilitated repatriations.

Just two weeks ago, the Kyrgyz Republic, with U.S. assistance, conducted its fifth repatriation operation, bringing the total number of Kyrgyz nationals repatriated in one year to over 400. I would like to thank the Kyrgyz Republic for its commitment and encourage others to follow its example.

Many of your governments believe you are “done” with repatriations because you have returned all or most of your nationals. But there is more we must do if we want to carry this momentum through 2024.

For example, most countries have only considered their own nationals for repatriation and generally have not explored resettlement opportunities for non-citizens with ties to their country. Far too often we encounter families that do not have a single, shared nationality. The lack of a shared nationality results in their being passed over for repatriation. These families must make the difficult decision to either separate and be repatriated to their own distinct countries of origin or remain together in northeast Syria as a family.

It is in our collective power to create a path for repatriation or resettlement for many of these families that do not currently have any options to leave northeast Syria as a unit.

I urge you review your governments’ immigration authorities and encourage you to consider exercising those authorities to the greatest extent possible. Without creative and compassionate policy making, some of these individuals have no other option but to remain in the dire conditions inside the camps of northeast Syria indefinitely if they want to remain as a family unit.

As I noted, we have made substantial progress with respect to repatriating women and children, but we must also repatriate male detainees. As a reminder, approximately 9,000 ISIS members remain in detention facilities in northeast Syria—the largest single concentration of detained terrorists in the world.

Northeastern Syria continues to face instability and leaving these individuals in detention indefinitely is simply not an option. I have spoken to you before about the fighters’ attempts to escape and ISIS’ attempt at jailbreaks, but other events in the region have only further destabilized the already tenuous situation.

For example, some of you may have seen reports of a munition that hit the detention facility at Hasakah prison earlier this past January, blowing a hole and causing structural damage to the youth wing which houses approximately 700 individuals. No detainees escaped following the attack, but it should serve as a reminder and underscore the urgency of this situation.

Any degradation of the tense security environment in northeast Syria will likely benefit ISIS and have a deleterious impact on our ability to repatriate individuals. Terrorist groups have long sought to replenish their ranks through prison breaks, and we must remain vigilant against this risk.

We can reduce the threat to all of our homelands if we act now.

We appreciate all governments who are engaging with us in an effort to repatriate their nationals. We are working with our partners on the ground to ensure individuals are identified and processed for repatriation as quickly as possible so that they can return home in a safe and secure manner.

Finally, it remains in all our interests to do what we can to help alleviate the humanitarian and security challenges in northeast Syria—particularly for the thousands of children who have known no other existence and urgently need a second chance at life outside of camps such as al-Hol and Roj.

I would like to close by reiterating that the United States remains committed to helping you and your governments to repatriate your nationals. Thank you.