There is all kinds of slavery in the world today.

Crowdfunding the 'Islamic State' group

Fans of the IS group have helped families of former members, trapped in a camp in Syria, by raising money for groceries. But they also want funds to smuggle young men out of the camp, so they can learn to fight.

    

This woman in the al-Hol camp gives a sign that she still follows IS ideology

"This message is the beginning of an important call for donations," said a note in German on the instant messenger service, Telegram, in late July. "In the camp there are two brothers, 15 and 17 years old, in hiding. Their family in the land of the unbelievers has published their pictures and wants to bundle them back to their homeland."

But the mother of the boys wants "to bring them to safety," the note said, and to do so she would need a total of $14,000 (€14,000). The money would be used to pay people smugglers to get the teenagers out of al-Hol, a camp in northeastern Syriafor displaced people.

This is not the only such crowdfunding campaign that relates to al-Hol. There are thought to be around 56,000 people in the camp today and they include "victims, bystanders and perpetrators of extremist violence" under the "Islamic State", or IS, group. According to research by the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, over 90% of those in the camp are women and children. And of those, about two-thirds are under the age of 18.

Almost all of the women and children were brought here after 2018, when the IS group was pushed out of territory it controlled in Iraq and Syria. Many of the women were widows of the IS fighters. The camp is managed and guarded by the Syrian Kurdish military, who control this part of the country.