Humanitarian aid, where every day is World Refugee Day

18.06.2020 - 11:53 - Syria
On the occasion of World Refugee Day on June 20, arche noVa draws attention to the fate of those affected in Syria who have fled war and destruction in their own country. The situation is particularly dramatic in areas which are not controlled by the government, such as Idlib, where arche noVa provides emergency aid. But the need is also great in the other parts of the country. 11.1 million people are dependent on humanitarian aid. In view of the dramatic humanitarian situation in Syria arche noVa firmly rejects the demand of single German politicians to end the deportation stop.

arche noVa against deportation to Syria

"The war is not over, there is no international peace plan and no agreement under the direction of the United Nations. At the moment you cannot send anyone back to the country", says arche noVa managing director Mathias Anderson. "There is no security for returnees. The destruction is enormous, the supply situation is catastrophic, inflation is frightening and in many places there is no housing". According to the Geneva Refugee Convention, refugees must not be deported to a country where they are in danger of being killed. "However, this still applies to everyone who has ever made a political statement during the war in Syria."

Zwei Mädchen auf der Ladefläche eines Pickups mit Pappkartons, auf denen das Logo von arche noVa steht
The food parcels are essential for the survival of these and other families. The supply situation is extremely tense in large parts of Syria. The situation is particularly dramatic in Idlib, in the northwest of the country, where millions of refugees live in a very confined space.
© arche noVa

Humanitarian aid between the fronts

Every day our local team meets people who do not feel safe in their own country. They live with the fear of attacks and further displacement. arche noVa works in Idlib, in the northwest of the country. Our mission: To help as many people as possible to survive between the fronts. We provide bread, food, drinking water, toilets and hygiene sets. Our commitment is all the more important because Corona has been added as a new threat.

Idlib: More than two million refugees in a confined space

On World Refugee Day on 20 June, the UN regularly publishes historic highs. This year is no exception. At present, 79.5 million people worldwide are registered as refugees. The majority of them have fled within their own country as so-called internally displaced persons. The Syrian Idlib is one of the regions of the world where a particularly large number of people have been crowded together in a very confined space. Around four million people currently live here, more than two million of whom are internally displaced persons.

How do the people behind the numbers feel?

Behind the facts and figures are individual people and their stories; stories of violence and loss, but also of courage and hope. On World Refugee Day we want to focus on their voices.

« I am always worried about so many things, like the possibility that we could get sick and have no money to buy medicine, or a new operation for my child who was injured in the shelling. Five years ago, we escaped from the shelling of our homes. We took nothing with us but our private documents. I've lost two brothers-in-law. Now I live here with my husband, my four children, my mother-in-law and my nephews. The most urgent thing is to find a job so that we can pay the rent and offer a minimum of education to our children, who have become almost illiterate due to war and frequent displacement. »
Fatema Daaboul, 25 years old
« We left our home and our business and lost my brother and his two children in an air raid. I am afraid for the future of my children. They lost their education and their schools were destroyed. I want them to learn. I never thought that they would not get the most basic of their rights, namely "education". »
Ahmad Kelly, 45 years old
« I am a man in the sixth decade of my life. The crisis has turned my life upside down. We have been displaced several times. I have lost one of my sons who has two children whom I have not seen for a long time because they live far away with their mother. In this place there are six of us. The bread and food packages from arche noVa are very important for us, because I have no job and food is too expensive. I urgently need work so that we can pay the rent and buy medicine for my son, who cannot breathe without it. I wish that this war would end and that I could return, even if I have to live in a tent on the ruins of the demolished house. »
Ibrahim Almazboh, 64 years old
« I can think of nothing else but that this could be our last day in this place. I am really afraid that this conflict will last for a long time and force us to flee again. I used to live with my family in our home town and had a grocery store. The shelling of our city forced us to flee our homes, we lost our livelihoods. First we moved to the north of Idlib to the town of Kelly. We had nothing and nobody offered us any help. We slept under the trees and even had to buy water, which was very expensive. Now we live in this camp. Since arche noVa has been on site a lot has improved. We have clean water, waste disposal, water tanks and latrines. »
Suleiman Muhammad Salmu , 54 years old

Gallery: Water supply and relief supplies for refugees and host communities

Kinder laufen durch Schlamm. Im Hintergrund sind Zelte.
arche noVa is where the people live: in informal camps, at ruins, in host communities.
© arche noVa
Mann füllt Wasser mithilfe eines Schlauches in einen Tank aus Metall.
Clean drinking water is supplied daily. Rations were increased from 20 to 30 litres per person per day in view of the Corona pandemic.
© arche noVa
Jungen stehen in einer Reihe. Sie halten Pakete mit Brot vor der Brust.
Bread is traditionally the most important basic foodstuff in Syria. Every day 4,000 one kilo bags are distributed to needy families.
© arche noVa
Ein Junge und ein Mann mit Schutzmasken zeigen Daumen nach oben. Im Hintergrund sind Wasserfässer und Zelte.
Our team in Idlib has taken precautionary measures such as education about Corona and the distribution of soaps. According to the WHO, the official case numbers are still very low. This may also be due to the few tests.
© arche noVa

Donate for this project

30
a food package containing basic food for a family for one month.
70
a 1,000 litre tank that stores water for 15 people in an informal camp.
250
to build a toilet for 20 people living in tents or shelters.

June 20th is World Refugee Day

For World Refugee Day, UNHCR annually publishes the global refugee numbers - in recent years they have reached sad records. Violence, persecution and human rights violations in many regions of the world have led to peaks in the numbers of internally displaced persons, refugees and asylum seekers. IDPs are civilians who are fleeing conflict, violence or general human rights violations within their country. They represent one of the largest groups of vulnerable people: At the end of 2019 an estimated 45.7 million people were considered internally displaced.

Ministers decide on deportation to Syria

From June 17 to 19, the next conference of interior ministers will take place in the German city of Erfurt. The state ministers will, among other things, decide on ending the protection to those who fled to Germany. The agreement on the protection of refugees expires on 30.06.20 without a further extension. Already at the last conference of the interior ministers in December 2019 there was talk of refugee returns to Syria. arche noVa calls on the German interior ministers to extend the current refugee protection regime, because there are severe risks that those who return are subject to arbitrary arrest and torture. In addition, the supply situation in all parts of the country is dramatically poor.

Learn more

For more information about the humanitarian aid of arche noVa in Syria please read our project report.

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