UN decries 'inhumane' camps of illegal PKK/YPG

GENEVA- Anadolu Agency

Tens of thousands of civilians are being held in "appalling and inhumane" conditions in Syrian camps of the YPG- the Syrian offshoot of the outlawed PKK- leading to the preventable death of 240 children, said a U.N. official on June 2. PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU.

Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, chair of the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, said challenges regarding displacement extended to the tens of thousands of civilians displaced by recent battles to capture the last ISIL enclaves in eastern Syria.       

"They are languishing in makeshift camps and enduring appalling and inhumane conditions of shelter, health, and hygiene - many of them held in de facto detention by Syrian Democratic Forces,” he told the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.

"This has led inevitably to the preventable deaths of up to 240 children thus far, primarily due to the lack of adequate onsite medical and humanitarian assistance."       

Pinheiro said at the al-Hol camp in northeastern Hasakah, which was initially built to house up to 10,000 internally displaced people, over 73,000 individuals remain interred.       

He added that the vast majority of those at the camp are women and children under the age of 12.       

"The situation of some 3,500 children at al-Hol camp is of particular concern. Children urgently require comprehensive psycho-social rehabilitation," Pinheiro said.     

The testimony comes just days after the U.N. signed a controversial pact with a PKK/YPG terrorist ostensibly about the group agreeing to stop using child soldiers.