IDPs of south Syria’s Rukban camp stage sit-in to improve their conditions
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Demanding a self-administration region, the IDPs of Rukban camp on the Syrian-Jordanian border continue their sit-in, which began on December 3.
Two days after the sit-in began, the Rukban camp’s Facebook page published a statement directed to the US-led Global Coalition forces in al-Tanf area, calling for direct intervention to establish an autonomous region in south Syria, similar to the SDF’s areas of control in northeast Syria.
“We demand the Coalition treat us as it treats the regions of northeast Syria,” Shukri Shihab, head of the Political and Public Relations Authority of Rukban, said.
Shihab stressed that the goal of the sit-in is to “urge the United Nations to provide both relief and medical support, and to support the stability in the camp.”
The camp residents have begun an open sit-in to protest the deteriorating living conditions, the continued siege imposed on the camp by the government forces, and the Jordanian authorities’ continuation of closing its borders with the camp.
“The sit-in came after we desperately lost hope in meeting the camp’s requirements, especially after a series of demands we made to the United Nations,” North Press reported a member of the sit-in committee, Abdulfattah Khaled.
“The sit-in will continue until our demands are met,” he added.
The humanitarian situation in the camp was described by Khaled as “the worst ever, and that the camp is the worst for the IDPs.”
“Three years ago, the United Nations suspended the entry of humanitarian aid into the camp, and this increased the suffering and starvation of the camp’s residents,” he mentioned.
The camp has not received any relief or health support after 2018, except for the relief baskets that the Red Crescent distributed for one time in 2019.
Khaled pointed out that commodities are brought to the camp from Suwayda through smugglers, so their prices have risen.
The residents of the camp, who lack the opportunities for work inside the camp, depend on money sent to them by relatives outside the camp.
It should be known that Rukban camp houses more than 12,000 IDPs from several Syrian governorates.
The camp was established in 2014, and most of the residents come from the countryside of Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor, Homs and Hama, and it is run by opposition factions supported by the US-led Global Coalition, which uses al-Tanf area as a military base in Syria.
The camp is besieged by the Syrian government forces, and it is cut off from humanitarian after Russia prevented the entry of UN food assistance to the camp, and Jordan refused to provide any support through its territory.
In March 2020, Jordan closed the only medical point that provided first aid and received critical deliveries as part of measures to limit the spread of Covid-19.