Makeshift camps in northeast Syria vary from bad to worse

Introduction

While support and humanitarian assistance for northwest Syria and Syrian government-held areas is often forthcoming, IDPs who escaped those areas and settled in northeast Syrian camps are suffering from a lack of support.

This report, issued by the Monitoring and Documentation Department of North Press, outlines the various aspects IDPs’ suffering in the makeshift camps of Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor. The residents of these camps, especially women and children, are deprived of the most basic rights regarding safety, welfare, health care, education, access to safe water and basic services. They are at risk of exploitation and live in poor conditions, amid dire living circumstances and an acute shortage of humanitarian assistance, which significantly declined after the closure of the al-Ya’rubiyah (Tel Kocher) border crossing with Iraq as a consequence of a Russian-Chinese UN veto in 2020.

Humanitarian crisis

Amina al-Hussein, 52, a resident of al-Maqas makeshift camp in Raqqa, said, “We are forced to stay in this camp. We have been deprived of all of our rights, even the right to live in peace and return home. There is no comfort and happiness for us here.”

“The tent is not like a house,” she added. She was forced to share a tent with her husband and six children, lacking any privacy or comfort.

Like other IDPs in the camp, al-Hussein suffers in worn-out tents made from tattered fabrics. They lack life essentials and basic rights, notably the right to a secure shelter.

Khatoun al-Hindi, an IDP from Ayyash, in Deir ez-Zor, says her children are not receiving any schooling. “I had to cut down on our food to be able to pay for my child’s education. I spoke with a tutor to come to the camp to teach my children reading and writing,” she said.

Education is one of the most pressing problems in makeshift camps in Raqqa. Educational organizations require certain conditions to teach children, including providing identification papers or a family booklet, which about 40 percent of the people in camps lack. Therefore, few children have access to schooling. Some children are not included in the educational plan, while others have to give up learning to help their families gain an income.

Some international organizations have adopted the method of informal teaching in some makeshift camps in Raqqa, with contracted teachers being hired for a limited period of time. Children are accepted according to requirements, including a certain number of children per family and providing identification papers.

Healthcare is not so different from education in these camps. Even though these camps are epicenters for diseases and epidemics, such as cholera, leishmaniasis, hepatitis, meningitis and others due to their remote location, because of a lack of a proper infrastructure and safe water, no health care is provided to IDPs. The sick therefore use their food money for medical checkups and medication.

In a related context, Amina al-Hussein, 52, an IDP in al-Maqas camp, said “my grandson was sick, so we had to take him to the nearest hospital in the city, but I had only 10,000 Syrian pounds ($1.13) with me. I left my ID at the hospital until I brought the required amount of money to discharge the child from the hospital.”

The suffering of IDPs in Raqqa’s makeshift camps is exacerbated by the deteriorating economic conditions and lack of support and job opportunities that make having sufficient amount of money to access life’s basics more difficult. This directly impacts social justice and their right to social protection, which is a fundamental human right that guarantees access to health care and income security and providing assistance to families in need.

The same situation is visible in the makeshift camps of Deir ez-Zor, which are considered far worse than Raqqa’s. The IDPs suffer from lack of drinking water, close medical points, and scarce humanitarian assistance.

Wadha al-Muhammad, 40, an IDP who moved seven years ago to Hawaij Dhiab camp, said, “We suffer from shortage in drinking water, lack of basic and medical services, and humanitarian assistance. Nothing is available. It is very difficult.”

“We can bear anything but we cannot live without water. We buy unsanitary water that could affect our safety and that of our children. The water problem must be solved,” she added.

Mahmoud al-Okla, 52, who lives in Meheimideh makeshift camp and is a father of six children, said “although years have passed, these makeshift camps have not been organized or recognized, that is why the situation is deteriorating. The authorities are responsible for our bad conditions. It is time they find a solution. How long will we stay like this?”

Statistics

There are 58 makeshift camps in Raqqa that hold over 150,000 individuals, including 76,775 women and 60,398 children, according to a statistic obtained by North Press from Raqqa’s Civil Council, affiliated with the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES).

There are nine makeshift camps in the western countryside of Deir ez-Zor that hold IDPs who came from government-held and opposition-held areas. There are three camps in al-Jazrat area holding about 1,700 families, Meheimideh camp with 610 families, Hawaij Bu Masaa camp with 800 families, Hawaij Dhiab with 380 families, al-Sagheer camp with 100 families, as-Sawa camp with 50 families, and al-Hariji camp with 50 families, according to a statistic obtained by North Press from the Social Affairs Committee in Deir ez-Zor, affiliated with the AANES.

This mean there are 67 marginalized makeshift camps in AANES-held areas that hold 19,223 families who have suffered under the ongoing crises for over nine years.

No access to rights  

Salha al-Muhammad, 33, a woman from the village of Ayyash, in Deir ez-Zor, which is held by government forces and Iranian-backed militias, moved with her three children to Ayyash camp after her husband died in the war.  

She said, “First, the war deprived my children of their father, then their right to live a dignified life. We live a tragedy in the camp. Nothing is available. We have to work for many hours to be able to provide food for one day.”

She told North Press that she is forced to leave her children alone for hours in the camp to go out and work to secure money for food.

In another makeshift camp, under a worn-out tent, Hamdan al-Ahmad, 65, lives with his wife and four daughters after being displaced five years ago from al-Rasafa region, which is held by government forces.

Al-Ahmad said, “We do not receive enough help. NGOs provide little assistance, then stop for months. I have a heart disease and cannot work. My daughters have to do hard labor that pays low wages so we can live.”

He told North Press that support and relief assistance reach IDPs in official camps only, but makeshift camps get very little aid so their conditions are more difficult.

Muhammad al-Hussein al-Umayri, administrator in the Social Affairs Committee, said only a few humanitarian organizations support the makeshift camps. They cover the needs of only three camps in Deir ez-Zor. One organization has a team that conducts health awareness campaigns and owns a mobile clinic in al-Jazrat camp. According to al-Umayri, this is the only support provided to the makeshift camps in Deir ez-Zor, and the situation is no different in Raqqa.

He added that there is a possible project to organize makeshift camps in the future, which was confirmed by Abdulnasser Ali, the spokesperson of the Social Affairs Board in Raqqa’s Civil Council. According to Ali, “Organizing the camps is the only way to support them and deliver aid to them.” However, no date has been set for the implementation of this plan. Ali says it will happen “soon.”

The AANES, through its Refugees and Displaced Affairs Office, had stated last year that there was a plan to organize these camps, but they have not been implemented.

Article 11 Paragraph 1 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights stipulates that everyone has the right to an adequate standard of living for themselves and their families, as well as to adequate food, clothing and shelter. Paragraph 2 of the Covenant stipulates that “Everyone has a fundamental right to be free from hunger,” including the equitable distribution of world food resources.

The right to education for displaced children in these camps is a fundamental right and must be free and accessible to all, in accordance with Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, and Article 13 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 1966 and other treaties.

Recommendations

• It is the responsibility of the AANES, being the authority responsible for these camps, to organize them and provide them with adequate support so that the displaced enjoy all their legitimate rights.
• Humanitarian organizations operating in northeast Syria and international organizations supporting them should focus on employment projects, support small enterprises and labor market integration programs, as well as support these camps in terms of humanitarian assistance and access to safe food and water.
• The United Nations and its Syrian offices must directly support these camps in the areas of relief, education, empowerment, protection of displaced persons and their rights.
• The Syrian government must recognize these camps and IDPs and also must find a mechanism for the delivery of UN assistance to them.
•  The UN Security Council should take immediate action to open the al-Ya’rubiyah crossing, the only border crossing from which United Nations assistance enters, as a means of delivering the necessary humanitarian assistance to areas in northeast Syria because the IDPs in northeast Syria have not received adequate assistance since its closure and witness deteriorating humanitarian conditions and difficulty in accessing their rights.