Anatomy of war and fear
Refugee camps and Syrian families Attitudes towards civil war in Syria part 3
Human Rights Research (2014-2012). Mohammad ibdah
Section 3: escaping from hill to other:
From the center of the darkness and the Twinkle shelling and bombs, step by step, injured, tired, hungry, scared and lost, the first Syrian refugee incision his way to borders of Jordan, followed by hundreds of families, then thousands, and here the story began.
Zaatari refugee camp is the camp of Syrian refugees who have come to Jordan after the month of July 2012 of the events that accompanied the Syrian war, which broke out in 2011. The camp was held about 20 kilometers east of the city of Mafraq northeast Jordan in Mafraq Governorate. is the camp of Syrian refugees who have come to Jordan after the month of July 2012 of the events that accompanied the Syrian war, which broke out in 2011. The camp was held about 20 kilometers east of the city of Mafraq northeast Jordan in Mafraq Governorate.
This report is not the first nor was the last about the status of Syrian women refugees in Zaatari Jordan camp, cases of rape and abuse of power and extortion of women sexually in exchange for food, and threatened with death, talk about exploitation if marriage some of the people is greater than the reconstruction of fathers asylum, or sexual harassment of workers arrived from the camp with some women.
This report and many others, was submitted to the UN envoys for human rights, local and international media, some may Stung by information contained in the report have, also been lifted this report to a number of embassies for donated countries.
Nadia (18 years), talks about her story, where he tried four harassment by workers inside the swimming mixed in the camp, she said: (I am afraid for myself to stay here, it has been a nightmare ... I imagined those moments, when I was screaming and begging residents of nearby tents , to rid it of maintenance workers gathered to rape me) ... And went on saying : ( dozens of young men rushed into the toilet , and they started beating up the aggressors with their hands and kicked their feet , before the existing security forces intervene in the place) ...
Selma (29 years) said: shocking scenes of many stories of harassment suffered by girl’s escapees outside the borders of the homeland. She says: I came here alone among the hundreds of refugees ... and she talk about vehicles loaded with foods and drinking water, inters the camp stressing that some of the workers firing sexual statements against refugee women, and sometimes things evolve to the point of harassment frank...
Fatima (23 years) recalls another refugee shocking scenes of the girls offered them requests for marriage customary versus deported from the camp and to ensure spending on them, note that most of these marriages were through intermediaries, many of which have the aim of prostitution. She says: ( I still remember it very well … a man entered the camp with luxury car and invoked to provide assistance, but he soon started taking photos for girls, as the one his comrade’s started to offer money, trying to get close to girl she was asking for food and water ). And when I asked here that why she didn’t report that to the security? She said: (We cannot ask the police to prevent people from entering the camp), she continue: (A lot of guys come here under the pretext of providing food and drink, but soon we found out that they are just more intermediaries marriages have found their way to the camp, some of them enters as a relief workers .. But they tried to seduce the girls. The problem is growing along with the growth of the Jordanian camp... This is due in part because of the poverty and despair that lives under the brunt of many refugee families...
Most of people think that refugee camps mean some tents and food and water, or some hygiene kits and blankets. Among one of the most important elements in rights’ of refugees is to feel safe, not just eat and drink. This task is the responsibility of the host country, by securing the camp from any dangers inside or outside the camp, For example, often fall incidents of sexual harassment within the camp by the residents of the locals, who enter under the pretext of providing aid , causing violent clashes between refugees, Syrians and local residents , and this cause calls for it enters later security to circumscribe the problem , according to the testimony of Zeinab ( 25 years ) where she said : when some Jordanian youths infiltrated the housing and photographing Syrian girls , angering parents who clashed immediately with these, and widened the circle of engagement following the post dozens of parties , prompting the intervention of the Jordanian security forces ...
Despite suffering manifold for tens of thousands of Syrian refugees in Jordan , which do not stop at an harassment , it jumped to the fore during the recent several stories to Syrian girls marry underage, exchange for small amounts of money , which is where some saw legislation to rape, or disguised prostitution, the largest of them the wife of the Syrian that can marry her one hundred Jordanian dinars ( $ 150 ) , who wants to marry , but what they are going to one of the camps to choose one of them . Some parents seek to vest their daughters, and accept the urgent marriages without conditions, Money just plain fast and marriage.Through the opinions of some clerics, which allow the marriage of minors, the marriage happen inside mosques through civil contract, away from the control of the law, under the pretext of helping girls Syrian, and soon found the young and the elderly who wish to marry from Syrian girls on the basis that they are refugees and they need help, living conditions are difficult and fears of being raped , those bad conditions forced Syrian parents to marry off their daughters at an early age , and because determining the legal marriage age in Jordan, parents resort to marry non- formal and non- registered with the authorities.
Where it is spread in the camps are the brokers of illegal marriage, which is what is happening now in Syrian refugee camps in Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon , where Syrian girl sold under the name of marriage, inside the camps many marriage brokers to choose the girls are beautiful and younger men weakening their age, and the reason is the bad condition for Syrian refugees, for livelihood and to save their daughters from the risk of the camps, which could be up to the kidnapping , rape and poor living conditions inside , the Syrian wife would not cost the groom only fill out a form and pay a cash amount to marriage brokers before getting a wife within days.
The dangerous thing is the recitation of religion men and promotion and advocacy for this kind of marriage, under the pretext of protection of underage girls from displacement and rape. But there is no law to protect them and guarantee the right of the wife. a 70 years old Jordanian man married whit a 12 years old Syrian girl ..!!! And early marriages under the age of 18 years continues to grow is not a refugee camp Zaatari and by, but among all the refugees in the world.
The offers and invitations to marry a Syrian refugee girls in Jordan where misuse Syrian women and the exploitation of refugee status outside Syria. And marriage with Syrian girls from refugee camps resulted in negative results, where Samira (19 years) preferred return to the hell of camp - a cording to her words- in order to preserve her dignity, after being married to a Jordanian citizen and after a while asked her to work in prostitution, not to mention marriages which come by the groom to the inside camps marry a girl of Syria, and a week after leaving the pretext of securities processing, but do not return, and the results are to be increased in the preparation of the underage brides , and marriages may end up most likely to abandon the wife, or force them to work as prostitutes .. and the fear that exploit the prostitution networks plight of Syrian and targeting their activities refugee , just as it did during the political crises in Iraq and Bosnia.
Zaatari refugee camp .. tragedy beyond description, and status such as that the suffering of the Syrian Women and children is double , and even displaced women who have been forced to leave their homeland abroad found themselves in front of another confrontation , entitled to seek to exploit their position in the marriage project looks like coercion does not but it bestowed pain and suffering ..
Thousands of pregnant women living in the Zaatari Syrian refugee camp in Jordan in harsh conditions , as most of them are not able to secure the necessities of food and medicine .
With the absence of accurate figures showing whether the war affected the birth rates between the Syrian negatively or positively , but it is certain that the numbers for more than a few of the Syrians come to the birth day of life within the extremely difficult conditions , both within the country or neighboring countries of asylum .
But life in the Zaatari refugee camp conditions are not the only problem facing pregnant women, also lack of proper diet and lack of minimum hygiene are considered the most important problems facing pregnant women in Zaatari, where limited food that gets him refugees on bread, canned food and some grain, but It does not include any vegetables or fruit or meat or cheese or dairy.
And consequent malnutrition that health problems facing pregnant woman and the fetus, and displays Mrs. dry milk after childbirth becomes unable to breastfeed her child, and the collective baths used by the camp's residents lack of cleanliness and adequate quantities of water, so the pregnant women susceptible to infections that would cause deforms embryos when they occur early in pregnancy.
The attributes do not resort Syrian refugee families to family planning methods during the war conditions and asylum, to the problem of awareness and ignorance, sometimes , there are those who want to make up for lost sons , and others are hoping that the war is over and go back to normal within months of pregnancy .
Recommendations:
If we refer to the risks and the current difficulties currently faced by the Syrian refugees, and to the seriousness of the implications of the continued living in camps for more than five million Syrians, we emphasize the following recommendations:
It should not separate the problem of asylum for the underlying causes that these refugees urged to leave their homes and resort to the neighboring countries and the rest of the states and without addressing these causes by stopping the offending Syrian regime's gross violations of human rights in Syria, the asylum problem will keep growing.
The international community needs to take care of its responsibilities towards refugees, especially since it bears the responsibility for the escalation of serious violations that led to the asylum crisis, by ignoring the international community to these violations, and its inability to carry out any real and effective position to stop them.
The need to make a greater effort from all local and international human rights organizations to document violations against refugees in various countries around the world, life and the circumstances in which they are exposed , and a special focus on the suffering of children, women and the wounded , the elderly and people with special needs like handicap people.
It is important to oral testimonies of refugees to be documented the violations they have suffered before they left for Syria, which led them to resort, and assume the difficult living conditions in the camps, registration of these violations is important and necessary for the functioning of justice and punish the perpetrators of human rights crimes, which is the right of future generations in Syria to learn the brutal size suffered by civilians.
Should all the different media, to shed more light on the suffering of the Syrian refugees and on all the relevant authorities allocate more resources, so we all can improve living conditions for refugees, where ever they exist.
on behalf of me all my colleagues working in UNRWA, this is appeal to all local and international civil society organizations, implement targeted refugees development and educational projects, and especially children, in order to equip them with the expertise and life skills to help them invest asylum in a positive period, and provide them with tools to overcome this hard stage.
------------------------
- The names of witnesses have been changed at their request
Mohammad ibdah