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A woman and a child walk between tents at the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp which holds suspected relatives of Islamic State group fighters, in Hasakeh governorate of northeastern Syria on March 3, 2021.DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP/Getty Images

A Canadian physician who recently returned from working in a detention camp in northeastern Syria where some Canadians have been held says the conditions are dire and inhumane for children.

Reza Eshaghian, a family and emergency-room physician in Vancouver, was the medical team leader for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders) in al-Hol camp from mid-November until the end of February. He said the conditions are shocking, two-thirds of the population are children, and many are dying from preventable causes.

“The current situation is completely unacceptable, and just ignoring it is wrong,” he said.

In 2019, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces detained thousands of people from more than 60 countries, including Canada, who had lived among Islamic State terrorists.

Since then, the foreigners have been in the al-Hol and Roj camps, and prisons across northeast Syria. The Trudeau government has to deal with the possibility of political backlash either for bringing home possible Islamic State sympathizers, or for leaving citizens, including children, to languish.

On Sunday, thousands of Kurdish-led forces, with support from a U.S.-led coalition, launched a military operation at al-Hol to identify and arrest Islamic State terrorists and tackle killings and violence. Nine people were arrested, and U.S. officials said the operation will continue.

Dr. Eshaghian said he never felt unsafe working in the camp, but pointed out that it is dangerous for people who live there.

“I think it is shocking how unsafe it is for the residents there. It is completely inhumane for children to be raised in an environment where people are being killed,” he said, adding that children are also dying needlessly.

Dr. Eshaghian said MSF helped a nine-year-old girl with kidney disease through a cumbersome process to leave the camp to receive dialysis. She had no parents and was sent to the hospital on her own. She cried every time, he said, and died alone because of the faulty system.

“That is the shocking component of this, and I mean, if we’re worried about security, we also have to be worried about the security of the people inside and these children,” he said.

Human Rights Watch said in a report last year that Ottawa is defying its international obligations by abandoning its citizens there. The organization said more than 40 Canadians, more than half of them children, are detained because of alleged ties to the terrorist group.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told the CBC on Sunday it is “absolutely essential” that countries repatriate their citizens.

“We understand the concerns of security of countries, but we believe that countries also must have the capacity to deal with those problems of security,” he said. “And especially in relation to children and women, I believe it’s absolutely essential that they have an opportunity to go back.”

Patricia Skinner, a spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada, said consular officials are attempting to get information from Syrian Kurdish authorities. She said “given the security situation ... Canada’s ability to provide consular assistance in Syria is extremely limited.”

Earlier this month, Ottawa agreed to repatriate a four-year-old girl from a camp in northeastern Syria, but prevented her mother from accompanying her.

In October, the federal government allowed a five-year-old orphan identified as Amira who had been detained in northeastern Syria to come home. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at the time it was an exceptional case.

With reports from The Associated Press

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