AANES calls UN take responsibility towards IDPs in NE Syria’s
RAQQA, Syria (North Press) – In a public statement on the occasion of World Refugee Day, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) called the UN on Monday to assume its responsibilities towards thousands of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugees scattered over dozens of camps in its areas.
The Autonomous Administration supervises 16 camps in its areas, with a population of 150,000 people, in addition to dozens of squatter camps in the countryside of Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor, Tabqah and Manbij, according to the statistics of the Office of Humanitarian Affairs in the AANES.
The AANES was first formed in 2014 in the Kurdish-majority regions of Afrin, Kobani and Jazira in northern Syria following the withdrawal of the government forces. Later, it was expanded to Manbij, Tabqa, Raqqa, Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor after the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) defeated ISIS militarily.
“Humanitarian organizations and UN institutions must carry out their responsibilities towards the thousands of refugees and IDPs scattered over dozens of camps in the Autonomous Administration areas,” the statement said.
The AANES necessitated the issue of providing aid and basic needs, something “the administration is unable to provide considering the large number” of IDPs and refugees in the camps.
The UN has to pressure Turkey and force it to secure a safe and voluntary return for those who were forcibly evacuated from Afrin, Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain) and Tel Abyad, the administration said.
The statement underscored the need for the UN to stop Turkey from building settlements and implementing demographic change in the areas it occupied, in addition to passing a resolution that authorizes opening Tel Kocher (al-Ya’rubiyah) border-crossing, which connects Iraq with the ANNES-held areas in northeast Syria.
The statement said, “Despite the siege [on Syria] and the closure of the border-crossings, the autonomous administration received thousands of displaced Syrians and Iraqi refugees. It has built camps and worked to secure living necessities for thousands of refugees and IDPs despite the limited financial capabilities and the imposed siege.”
Despite repeated official and popular calls in northeastern Syria to open the Tel Kocher border-crossing, it is still closed due to Moscow’s and Beijing’s veto in the UN Security Council, blocking the way of UN aid to Syria.