https://themilitant.com/2019/06/29/former-wives-children-of-is-fighters-held-in-mideast-camps/
Former ???wives,??? children of IS fighters held in Mideast camps
??By Steve Penner
Vol. 83/No. 24
July 8, 2019
Thousands of women formerly ???married??? to Islamic State fighters and
their children are being held in appalling conditions in al-Hol, above,
and other detention camps in Syria and Iraq.
AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo
Thousands of women formerly ???married??? to Islamic State fighters and
their children are being held in appalling conditions in al-Hol, above,
and other detention camps in Syria and Iraq.
Thousands of displaced former ???wives??? of Islamic State fighters,
together with tens of thousands of children, many of them orphans, are
being held in squalid, disease-infested camps in Iraq and Syria. Their
reintegration into society is an important challenge in charting a
working-class road forward in the region.
Many of the women were teenagers forced to be ???child brides??? or sex
slaves by IS. Some were shot and wounded as they fled territories held
by the reactionary Islamist outfit.
Security forces refuse to allow most of the women and children from Iraq
or Syria to return to their home cities. Others come from outside the
Middle East. A handful of their home countries have taken back a tiny
number of citizens, but most won???t allow those who lived in areas under
Islamic State control to return. They???re trapped in a stateless void.
The Iraqi government in Baghdad, dominated by political parties based on
sectarian Shiite-religious politics, encourages forces that denounce the
women, the majority or whom are Sunnis. ???They should all be prosecuted
or killed!??? insisted Sheikh Mohammed Nasser al-Bayati, a powerful Shiite
militia commander.
The European Union???s ???anti-terrorism??? chief, Gilles de Kerchove,
justified the refusal of EU member states to repatriate them, claiming
the children may become ???the next generation of suicide bombers.???
Most of these supposedly dangerous children are younger than 12 years
old. According to UNICEF, they are ???among the world???s most vulnerable
children [living] in appalling conditions amid constant threats to their
health, safety and well-being.???
Cholera, tuberculosis, dysentery and typhoid are rife in the camps, and
the children are malnourished. Many show symptoms of post-traumatic
stress disorder, like vivid nightmares and the inability to speak.
Many of the women and even some of the children are being put on trial
as Islamic State fighters. The women are often sentenced either to die
by hanging or to life imprisonment after ???trials??? that often last no
more than 10 minutes. The Iraqi government provides no information on
the number of women who have been executed. However, New York Times
reporters witnessed prosecution of 14 Turkish women accused of
supporting IS that took a combined total of two hours. All 14 women were
sentenced to death.
Women in the camps are targeted for sexual violence by militiamen and
camp guards, including forced marriages. ???These ???marriages??? are just sex
marriages, but you can???t say no,??? Muntahar, a 16-year-old girl, told the
Washington Post. ???Then they take you for a week, or for a few months,
before throwing you back into the camp.???
An estimated 45,000 displaced children being held in camps in Iraq do
not have recognized birth certificates, the Norwegian Refugee Council
said. As a result, they face exclusion from Iraqi society, being barred
from school, denied access to health care, and prevented from working
when they become adults. Without a valid birth certificate, newborns are
unable to receive vaccinations in some areas.
Thousands more children, being held in camps in Syria, face the same
fate. One of the largest of the Syrian camps, al-Hol, is surrounded by a
chain-link fence and armed guards. Children make up at least two-thirds
of its residents. Camp officials say they are too busy trying to provide
tents and food to offer schooling and recreational activities, or deal
with children???s often severe psychological problems.
Contrast with revolutionary Cuba
The contrast with how the children of the murdering and torturous cops
and troops of the bloody dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, overthrown
by Cuba???s 1959 revolution, were treated could not be more stark.
Brigadier General Tet?? Puebla, the highest-ranking woman in Cuba???s
Revolutionary Armed Forces in 1959, was asked by Fidel Castro, the
revolution???s central leader, to head up the Department of Assistance to
War Victims and their Families after taking power.
The children of Batista henchmen ???were provided for the same as the
children of the rebels,??? Puebla says in her book, Marianas in Combat:
Tet?? Puebla and the Mariana Grajales Women???s Platoon in Cuba???s
Revolutionary War 1956-58, published by Pathfinder. The new department???s
slogan was, ???In the face of pain, the homeland makes no distinction. To
save a child is to build the homeland.???
???Working-class organizations in the Middle East and around the world
need to denounce the brutal treatment of the wives and children of IS
members,??? Alyson Kennedy, the 2016 presidential candidate of the
Socialist Workers Party who was part of an SWP delegation to Iraq this
year, said June 13. ???We should demand their immediate release from the
detention camps with all documents needed to freely live their lives and
their repatriation to safe conditions where they can receive the medical
care, education and social support they require.???
In April, Kennedy participated in the Erbil International Book Fair in
the Kurdish region. Along with other leaders of the SWP and Communist
Leagues in the United Kingdom and Canada, she met with leaders of the
Kurdish Communist Party and area trade unions.
???One of the key questions we discussed,??? Kennedy said, ???is the necessity
for working-class fighters to act as Russian revolutionary leader
Vladimir Lenin explained more than a century ago, as ???tribune[s] of the
people ??? able to react to every manifestation of tyranny and oppression,
no matter where it appears, no matter what stratum or class of the
people it affects.??????
In This Issue
Front Page Articles ???US hands off Iran! End US economic war!
???US sanctions hit hardest against working people
???Speak out against bans on ???Militant??? in prisons!
???Vote to erase Calif. mural is blow to art, political rights
???Massive protests in Hong Kong push back hated extradition bill
??????We demand: End US colonial rule over people of Puerto Rico???
Feature Articles ???Victory in bakery???s lawsuit against ???racism??? smear by
Oberlin College
Also In This Issue ???Former ???wives,??? children of IS fighters held in
Mideast camps
???Workers at Gate Gourmet, Sky Chefs fight for contract
???Undocumented workers in NY win right to driver???s licenses
???Sudan military attacks protests demanding civilian government
???Celebrating 100 years ???on right side of history???
???Joyce Meissenheimer: Communist fighter
Books of the Month ???Building a party capable of leading workers to power
25, 50 and 75 years ago
?? Copyright 2019 The Militant?? -?? 306 W. 37th Street, 13th floor -?? New
York, NY 10018?? -?? themilitant@xxxxxx
--
---
Voltaire
??? Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.
???
??? Voltaire,
