Several activists launched a campaign entitled “Camps of Death” to highlight the suffering of the people of the Syrian Jazira cities in Deir Ez Zor, al-Raqqa and al-Hasakeh. Camp residents fled the regime and Russian bombing, the mandatory recruitment recently imposed by the Islamic State forces, and the arbitrary arrests in the camps in al-Raqqah and al-Hasakah controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces.
The campaign statement mentioned that the Syrian Democratic Forces are trying to force the displaced to enter closed camps which are surrounded by SDF guards. Once in the camps, residents are prevented from leaving or moving around in SDF controlled territory unless a camp resident has a Kurdish guarantor and pays a minimum of 200,000 Syrian Pounds per person.
The statement highlighted the suffering of the displaced people in camps in al-Hasakah where they are prevented from leaving even with a guarantor except to the regime held areas. The condition forces civilians to choose between going to regime controlled areas or staying in camps lacking the most basic living requirements such as water, food or health facilities or medical services.
The campaign said these camps include al-Sadd Camp, al-Hul, al-Mabroukah, Rjam al-Sulaybi, Ain Issa, al-Karama, al-Twuhineh, and al-Hadlat and Rikban camps in the south of al-Hasakah. There are over 100,000 persons in these camps, mostly women and children.
The statement indicated that there have been ten incidents of death in al-Karama camp, six in al-Sadd, five in Rijm al-Sulaybi and 20 in al-Rikban. All the deaths were due to malnutrition, water pollution, the lack of medical centers and medical care especially as many of the camps lack potable water.
Speaking to Zaman al-Wasl, Mohammed Hassan, activist and the campaign organizer, said that they launched the campaign on August 15 it will continue until August 23 “to highlight the suffering of our people who are fleeing from the hell of war in the eastern region and are in the Syrian Democratic Forces camps.”
Hassan pointed out that “the aim of the campaign is to put pressure on the international community and human rights organizations concerned with the displaced people to act based on their responsibilities.” He explained that the campaign has three main demands, “opening safe corridors between the Islamic State controlled areas and the Syrian Democratic Forces areas, United Nations assigned international monitors in the camps, ensure the safety and freedom of movement of displaced persons in the Syrian Democratic Forces areas.”
The campaign organizers published statistics showing the number of displaced people from Deir Ez Zor and al-Raqqa provinces. Based on their census, 10,000 displaced persons are in Rjam al-Salibi (al-Hasakah), 10,000 in al-Hul (al-Hasakah), 30,000 in al-Karama camp (al-Raqqah), 6,000 in al-Sadd camp (al-Hasakah), 3,000 in al-Mabroukah (al-Hasakah), 8,000 in Ain Issa (al-Raqqah), 68,000 in al-Rikban on the Syrian-Jordanian border, and 5,000 in al-Hadlat which is still being bombed by the al-Assad regime.
The residents of these camps suffer from a lack of food, humanitarian and medical assistance, the spread of many diseases and a shortage of tents.
