ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Parts of Erbil camp housing northeast Syria (Rojava) refugees have been filled with trash since the United Nations stopped funding cleaning service there last month. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) stopped providing Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) service to Kawergosk camp in Erbil province on July 1, causing piles of garbage in the camp which houses about 8,000 Kurds who have been displaced from Rojava in the last decade, feeling war. Sulaiman Yasin is the owner of a bakery inside the camp. He told Rudaw’s Halabja Saadun on Thursday that many customers no longer visit him due to insects and piles of trash near the bakery. “Business is not like it used to be as a few customers show up. As you can see it [nearby the oven] is full of trash,” he said, The camp used to be cleaned once in two days but it has only been cleaned once, by volunteers, since July 1, according to Abdulrahman Saadi, a member of the camp’s governing council. Khabat Sheikhmous is a refugee at the camp. He said “our children have fallen sick due to the trash.” Imam Jabali, head of the camp called on the UNCHR to resume the service. Firas al-Khateeb, a spokesperson for UNHCR, told Rudaw that they suspended the service as per a deal with the Kurdish government. “There is a deal between the UNHCR and the government institutions which gives the responsibility of all services to the government. Our funds, which have been reduced, are instead spent on long-term solutions like the establishment of schools and health centers and many other projects,” he noted. UNHCR has also cut funds to education, electricity and water services at camps as well. Rojava students in Erbil’s Qushtapa camp were deprived of education for the 2021-2022 academic year after UNHCR stopped paying teachers. Rojava refugees have previously held protests against lack of services at camps.
