Tens of thousands of displaced people in northeast Syria in appalling conditions
Tens of thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) in overburdened camps and shelters in northeastern Syria are not receiving sustained or adequate assistance, affecting their basic rights. Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement that there is an urgent need for weather-appropriate shelter, sanitation, and adequate access to food, clean drinking water, health care, and education.
Health and hygiene problems
HRW pointed out that UN agencies’ assistance to camps and shelters in areas administered by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) has been inconsistent, resulting in some camps and shelters, particularly the “informal” ones, not receiving adequate or sustained assistance. Although limited assistance is being provided by international NGOs, multiple gaps have led to health and hygiene problems and shortages of essential materials during extreme hot and cold weather, raising questions as to whether the current level of assistance guarantees the economic and social rights of the displaced and meets universal minimum standards for humanitarian assistance.
In the statement, Adam Coogle, deputy Middle East director at HRW, said: “Almost four years have passed since hundreds of thousands of people arrived in Kurdish-controlled northeast Syria seeking shelter and support after Turkey’s invasion of their hometowns. But the lack of adequate help has created a precarious situation.”
More displacement due to Turkish hostility
Three of the unofficial camps in northeastern Syria were set up after Turkey’s military offensive in 2019, which forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes, HRW said, adding that displacement continues, particularly in villages on the frontlines between the area controlled by the autonomous administration and the area occupied by Turkey due to ongoing hostilities. In addition, the Syrian government has for years used aid as a weapon, dictating where it goes and preventing it from crossing from government-controlled areas of the country to the front lines. While UN-led aid operations have been a lifeline for millions of civilians in northern Syria, in January 2020 Russia forced the Security Council to close three of the four border crossings previously authorized, completely cutting off UN-led cross-border aid to the northeast and leaving UN agencies at the mercy of often arbitrary and unjustified government-imposed conditions.
Most IDPs from Turkish-occupied Serekaniye
According to a statement given to HRW by Barzan Abdullah, a co-administrator of the Washokani camp, the camp is home to 16.657 people as of 1 August – 2262 families, 90 to 95 percent of whom are Arabs from Serekaniye and surrounding villages. Abdullah added that about 400 families do not have their own tents and have to share or find a place elsewhere.
Inadequate support from UN agencies
Aid workers said there were 12 camps in the region, five of which were largely underserved by UN agencies but relying on the autonomous administration and international groups for some services. Camp administrators noted that until January, the UN had classified these camps as ‘informal’, meaning they were not established by humanitarian organizations. The workers also said that although the UN no longer divides camps in north-east Syria into formal and informal camps as of January, the “informal” camps are still without sustained UN aid.
HRW stressed that the UN, other aid agencies and the autonomous administration must urgently turn their attention to the precarious humanitarian situation unfolding in informal camps and collective centers by prioritizing a rights-based approach.