Yarmouk Refugee camp [Unofficial Camp*]

Yarmouk 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. It occupies an area of 2,110,000 square metres to accommodate refugees who were scattering in mosques, schools and other public places. 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 is densely populated. Three 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 are far better than those of the other Palestine refugee camps in Syria.

Registered refugees:

• Total 144,312 (December 2008)
• Average family size: 4.4 members
• Camp population by age:

UNRWA Education Programme

• Schools: 28 double-shifted schools, operating in 14 school buildings.
• Staff members: 700
• Pupils: 23,438

Currently, two school buildings are under reconstruction. In general, the classrooms in Yarmouk schools are overcrowded, often accommodating around 60 students per class. Moreover, there are no specialised rooms – science and computer laboratories, music rooms, sports facilities, learning resource centres or learning support centres – to facilitate and diversify students’ learning.

As the schools are underfunded and do not have proper facilities, they usually do not host any extracurricular activities. Students come to the schools only for formal lessons and lose interest in studies in general, which leads to a high number of school dropouts and greater youth-related problems.

UNRWA Health Programme

• Health centres: 3
• Number of medical staff: 66
• Number of patient consultations per month: 24639

UNRWA Relief and Social Services Programme

• Food distribution centre: 1
• Social safety net (SSN) programme beneficiaries: 17,470 individuals (6464 families) receive 19704 daily rations

Microcredit Community Support Programme – Community Managed Funds:

The programme began operating in the camp in June 2009.

UNRWA Microfinance Programme

• Number of loans disbursed to Palestine refugees: 5,218
• Total value of loans: 168,395,000 SYP (approximately 3,367,900 USD)
• Percentage of Palestine refugees of total clients of the branch: 35 %

Major Problems:

• High rate of early marriage and divorce
• High rate of drug addiction
• Increasing rate of school dropouts at an early age
• Increasing rate of child labour
• Domestic violence
• Health problems caused by economical and psychological pressure
• The shelters are in a deplorable and hazardous condition
• High unemployment rate and lack of job opportunities
• Living costs are disproportional with the refugee income
• The absence of cultural centres, playgrounds and sports clubs causes youth delinquency problems
• Lack of potable water in certain areas of the camp. People are obliged to buy water from different sources, which worsens their financial burden
• Absence of environmental health awareness
• Air pollution because of densely constructed buildings and numerous cars
• Lack of parks

*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.