YARMOUK [UNOFFICIAL REFUGEE CAMP]

Yarmouk, which is an *"unofficial" camp, is home to the largest Palestine refugee community in Syria. It lies 8 kilometres from the centre of Damascus and is inside the city boundaries. Yarmouk resembles an urban quarter, and it looks very different from the other Palestine refugee concentrations in Syria. Yarmouk was established in 1957 on an area of 2,110,000 square metres to accommodate refugees who were squatters. Although, not recognized as a camp, the road signs read: Mukhayam al-Yarmouk (Arabic for Yarmouk camp). Over the years, the refugees have improved their shelters and added more rooms to them. Today, the camp is crowded with cement block homes and narrow streets, and is densely populated. Two main roads lined with shops and crammed with service taxis and microbuses run through Yarmouk.

Many of the refugees in Yarmouk are professional, working as doctors, engineers and civil servants. Others are employed as casual labourers and street vendors. Overall, living conditions in Yarmouk appear to be far better than those of the other Palestine refugee camps in Syria.

Yarmouk has four hospitals, government-run secondary schools, and the largest number of UNRWA schools. UNRWA sponsors two women's programme centres, which are actively involved in providing community outreach activities. With a rising refugee population, UNRWA's main priority is to ensure sufficient school places and facilities to continue providing good education for the refugee children in the future.

In 1996, UNRWA was able to upgrade two health centres with contributions from the government of Canada. In 1997, six schools were upgraded with contributions from the Government of the United States, and a kindergarten was built with funds from the Government of Australia. In 1998, UNRWA was also able to construct a health centre funded by the Government of the Netherlands.

FACTS AND FIGURES

• On 30 June 2002, there were 112,550 registered refugees.
• UNRWA runs 28 schools in Yarmouk: 20 elementary (ages 6-12) - ten for boys (8869 pupils) and ten for girls (7729 pupils); and eight preparatory (ages 12-15) - four for boys (3887 pupils) and four for girls (4020 pupils).
• Between January-June 2002, there were 132064 patient consultations in the three UNRWA health centres.
• 2,388 families (or 7,772 refugees) are registered as special hardship cases (SHCs).
• Over the past four years, UNRWA has assisted 61 of the poorest refugee families with the rehabilitation of their shelters.

*A number of so-called unofficial refugee camps were established over time by the host governments to provide accommodation for Palestine refugees. In all respects, refugees in official and unofficial camps have equal access to UNRWA services, except that UNRWA is not responsible for solid waste collection in the unofficial camps.

Figures as of 30 June 2002