WASHINGTON — The head of the United Nations' refugee agency said that his body had no evidence that ISIS has been conducting "meaningful recruitment" inside the camps that he runs.
"We have no news of recruitment by [the Islamic State (IS)]," United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres told a small group of reporters on Thursday in response to a question from BuzzFeed News.
"That doesn't mean one person goes to the internet and if that person disappears, that might happen in [the Zaatri refugee camp in Jordan] as in Washington, no?" Guterres continued. "Picks up a plane to the region, gets a visa to one of the neighboring countries, disappears. These situations might happen. But we do not have any indication of a meaningful recruitment effort by the IS in refugee camps."
That runs counter to reports from other refugee camps, particularly those in Turkey — which the United Nations does not run. Just across the border from Syria, these camps are home to more than one million Syrian refugees. Last month, BuzzFeed News' Mike Giglio reported on ISIS supporters conducting recruitment in at least one Turkish refugee camp, luring young men to join the group's self-professed caliphate with the promise of salaries.
"There is a very strong effort by us, and especially by the governments of host countries, in order to avoid all kinds of recruitment in camps," Guterres insisted, holding Turkey up as an example.
"In Turkey, I believe that — independent of whatever might happen in Turkey with groups of people," he said, likely referring to accusations that Istanbul has allowed free passage to foreign fighters across its border into Syria, "but inside refugee camps there is a very strict control, a very effective one, because Turkey has a strong capacity in the camps that were installed of control and monitoring."
There were some recruitment efforts by the Free Syrian Army in Jordan early in the crisis, Guterres said, but that ended with the cooperation of the Jordanian authorities. "Because for us one thing that is vital is the humanitarian character of camps."
The UN agency head also cited Islam itself as a reason why refugee camps are, or at least should be, free from recruitment. "The al-mustaminun, the asylum seeker, shall not carry weapons," he said, referring to an order in place during the time of the Caliph to allow safe passage to those seeking refuge. "It is in the holy texts of Islam so to a certain extent there is a religious also commandment on that." That only seemed to have applied to non-Muslim subjects of the caliphate, however, rendering its application in this situation questionable.
Gutteres also addressed the ongoing airstrikes against ISIS taking place in Iraq and Syria, saying that they have had little impact on refugee flows. "Airstrikes have been limited and targeting specific areas, so we don;'t have the idea that that in itself is causing relevant displacement," he said. "We don't have the idea that these strikes have lead to any strong displacement. Situations here and there, but not strong displacement."