AANES’ Raqqa Council to integrate 58 squatter camps for IDPs
RAQQA, Syria (North Press) – Camps and Displaced Affairs Office of Raqqa Civil Council of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) revealed on Monday a plan to integrate squatter camps in Raqqa Governorate in northern Syria to only four camps.
This came to facilitate providing support after counting of 58 camps.
The Raqqa Civil Council suffers from squatter camps due to the difficulty of accessing IDPs and provides equitable support.
Munawar Majed, head of the Camp Affairs Office in the Raqqa Civil Council said, “The number of camps in Raqqa is 58, and we integrate and organize them in only four camps.”
Majed told North Press that the numbers of families reached 10.000, in total of 70.000 persons.
IDPs from Hama, Homs, Deir ez-Zor, Afrin, Idlib, Sere Kaniye (Ras al-Ain), Ain Issa, Tel Abyad, Ma’dan and Sabkha reside in the camps, according to Majed.
He pointed out that the IDPs needed financial and logistical support as well as tents, medical and educational centers.
On June 20, the AANES called the UN to assume its responsibilities towards thousands of IDPs and refugees scattered over dozens of camps in its areas.
“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 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 SDF defeated ISIS militarily there.
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, Tabqa and Manbij, according to the statistics of the Office of Humanitarian Affairs in the AANES.