Sara, who asked that her real name not be used, has been arbitrarily detained for nearly a decade in Roj camp in Syria’s far northeast, which holds more than 2,300 children and mothers

Upwards of 70,000 people were once detained in al-Hol, another larger camp in the northeast holding the families. In 2023, more than 52,000 people – mostly Syrians and Iraqis – were held in al-Hol and Roj, including an estimated 12,000 foreign nationals.

She found that conditions met “the threshold for torture under international law”. The violence women and children face now, she told Al Jazeera, is worse.

“It is utterly unacceptable that women and children who have never been convicted of any crimes, who have never been subject to any legal process, are being detained in this way,” she said.

There is no legal basis for their arbitrary detention, she said, adding that the remedy is release.