10 Years of the Za’atari Refugee Camp
Author: Baroness Mubarik
Ten years is a long time in any life. For those who came as children or were born in the Za'atari refugee camp in Jordan, it is forever. Another forgotten people, another town of containers or caravans or whatever you like to call them, hot under the desert sun during the day and freezing cold at night. Dismal landscapes depicting little hope for a better future.
In politics, we are often focused on the next big thing. Whether that’s who’s up or down, the next crisis on the horizon or anything else that dominates the news cycle. It’s too easy to forget about crises around the world that are still ongoing and are very real for so many people. One such example of this is the humanitarian crisis in Syria and the effect that this has on its neighbouring countries.
Inside Jordan, just 15 miles from the Syrian border, the Za’atari camp houses 80,000 Syrian refugees, down from over 100,000 at the peak of the crisis. It is easy for us to forget about the ongoing situation in Syria when our minds are preoccupied with the current war in Ukraine happening on the edge of our own continent. Yes -10 Years is a long time – in politics and in a crisis.
I have visited other refugee camps before, in 2019 in Gaziantep on the Turkish Syrian border where almost 470,000 Syrian refugees are housed and in 2018 the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazaar in Bangladesh. Each have different degrees of order or squalor but in the end they are what they are: a place to give those fleeing danger shelter and safety but also to confine them and perhaps unintentionally to consign them to a life which has little more to offer beyond existence. Such camps are rarely a short-term measure.
That said, walking around Za’atari it is difficult to not be inspired by the resilience of the people there. Thanks to support from the UK, NGOs and other countries, Za’atari has been transformed from a field of tents to people being moved into more stable structures or caravans, establishing their own businesses and market places. I saw British NGOs like Save the Children working in hugely challenging circumstances to provide healthcare and education with the help and support of the local population.
Since the opening of the camp 10 years ago, there have been over 20,000 births recorded. For these children, life in the camp will be all they have known. This will be their world. Seeing this energy and potential here is a waste for humanity and we should be doing all we can, alongside our international partners, to cultivate and support these people to ensure that they can return to their homes, go to school or university and start businesses.
But the work being done here, although important, should just be the start of the support from the Global Community. We need to ensure that the UK’s foreign policy not only keeps us safe and promotes our interests but that it is also compassionate, giving children and families who have fled war and persecution the chance to begin to rebuild their lives.The soft power impact of UK Aid and Development assistance cannot be overstated. Walking around Za’atari and seeing the Union Flag adorning key pieces of infrastructure and facilities brings a sense of pride about the UK being a force for good on the world stage. In the context of increasingly concerning global instability, it is more important than ever that the UK continues to forge its reputation as a reliable and consistent ally to people fleeing the devastating impacts of war.
What is apparent in Za'atari Camp is although this may be where people are living, it will never be their home. There is a desire to return to Syria, return to their real homes and return to their families who were not able to leave. Ultimately we have to find long term political solutions for those caught up in conflicts not of their making. In the meantime we must continue to place importance on our Aid and Development assistance as often it offers a lifeline for people who have very little else to count on. We owe it to them and to ourselves.
This article was first published in the Global Britain Magazine.
