Interaction with the hashtag “Save the Rukban Camp” continues by social media activists, as a result of the poor conditions of thousands of camp residents, due to lack of allocated water and high temperatures.
In late May, UNICEF announced that the “Rukban” camp, located on the Syrian-Jordanian border, will see its water quota reduced by half. This development coincided with the siege imposed by the Syrian regime on the camp for years.
The camp’s residents, mostly women and children, suffer from a significant shortage of safe water for drinking and use. This is accompanied by a heat wave amid fears of the spread of epidemics and diseases, especially with the spread of scorpions and snakes in the vicinity of the camp, located in a desert area.
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Since Saturday, activists and media have launched a social media campaign, calling on the international community to save the camp’s residents from “death by dehydration” and to increase water allocations from Jordan.
Nearly 10,000 people have been living in Al-Rukban in poor living conditions since its inception in 2014. The regime had previously tried to impose a “settlement” on the camp’s residents, but they refused. This left them facing a blockade and a lack of food and medical aid.
Recently, there were reports that some families had to return to regime control areas to escape these circumstances, without guarantees protecting them from security pursuit and arrest by Syrian regime agencies.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said three families from the al-Rukban camp left the camp on Monday, towards the regime-controlled Homs governorate, due to lack of water and fear of dehydration.
Thirteen families left the camp, along with five young men and two children, in July.
Al-Rukban camp is located in a desert area within the 55-kilometre “calm” zone.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
