Harsh humanitarian conditions in Al-Hawl camp, amid complaints about humanitarian organizations’ work
Al-Hawl camp, Al-Hasakah – North-Press Agency
Residents of al-Hawl camp in the eastern countryside of Hasakah in north-eastern Syria struggle to survive amidst low humanitarian conditions; where they lack the basic elements, amid the failure of the humanitarian organizations to do their part properly.
About 10 international relief organizations and associations are operating inside the camp, along with several local organizations to provide services. However, their assistance does not meet the needs of the camp’s residents due to the large numbers of people, where thousands of the camp’s residents wait in the form of queues or gatherings in front of the relief organizations to receive food baskets, in light of suffering from the lack of basic materials, such as tents, food, drink, sleeping blankets, and mattress.
According to the statistics, Al-Hawl camp contains about 62.000 refugees and IDPs of Iraqis and Syrians, along with thousands of the Islamic State families, who have been put in a private sector, due to security issues.
Suffering
Ammar al-Sa’ab, a resident of the camp, from the city of Al-Mayadeen in Deir ez-Zor governorate, told North-Press that he has been unemployed for a while, and that pushed him to sell the food baskets he receives from the organizations so he can support his family.
“The situation is terrible in the camp, we suffer from the lack of water and bread, since we came to the camp, we have only eaten bulgur wheat, rice and mujaddara (cracked wheat cooked with lentils and browned candied onions) in the morning and in the evenings,” Ammar said.
Scattered in the streets
Maryam al-Abdullah, a refugee from the Iraqi city of Al-Qaim, complains that her tent had been burned four days ago and no one has helped her so far and that her children are scattered either in the streets or at neighboring tents.
She expressed her suffering in the Iraqi accent, “The organizations are defaulting on their obligations, saying every day that we will hand you a tent, but when I go to them, they reply that there’re no tents, and now my children and I are in the streets.”
Furthermore, Afra Rafi, also a refugee from Iraq, told North-Press that the organizations have delivered her a cooling fan, yet she has no electricity to charge it, “Our children are suffering the high temperature of weather, we are suffering from everything, as we also, cannot afford to pay for medicines we need, because of poverty beside the limited number of organizations.” She said.
According to the administration of Al-Hawl camp, they have recorded several recent burning incidents of tents, yet the organizations have not provided any kind of assistance so far.
Organizations’ inaction
Shaaban Abdelhamid, head of the Council of Syrian IDPs in Al-Hawl camp, told North-Press that the camp is in desperate need of humanitarian aid in the light of the high prices of foodstuffs in the camp market, in addition to the problems of water and sewage channels without finding solutions, as they are considered most salient problems.
“The organizations are failing in their work very much; and the organizations are offering the same foods since they were here, rice and mujaddara,” he added.
He also pointed out that “The majority of IDPs don’t have a single pound to spend on their families, most of them suffer from diseases, but because of the poor living conditions, they cannot be treated outside the camp”.
In the same context, Abdelhamid explained that they communicate with the organizations repeatedly, but in vain, “The organizations don’t act as what they say, they don’t honor their words.”
The head of the council declared that the unemployment rate is large within the camp, “There are a lot of qualified and experienced people in the camp, but the organizations bring in workers from the outside while they can provide the residents of the camp with jobs to improve their living conditions here”.
The organizations decline to comment
In response to the complaints of the camp’s residents, North-Press tried to reach out to some humanitarian organizations working in Al-Hawl camp to respond to criticism directed to them, but their officials refused to comment on the complaints by pretending that they are not allowed to comment without getting permissions from their administrations.
The establishment of the camp dates back to 1991 during the Gulf War where High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) established an Iraqi refugee camp south of the town and was activated in line with the Syrian government, following the 2003 Iraq war, the camp was reopened.
The camp was again rehabilitated after SDF control over the area, and in April 2016, Al-Hawl camp was reopened to all refugees, especially Iraqis.