The Marka refugee camp (Arabic: مخيم ماركا‎) is one of six "emergency" camps erected in 1968 to shelter 15,000 Palestinian refugees and displaced persons who left the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as a result of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Located ten kilometers northeast of Amman in Jordan, it is known locally as Hittin (حطين) or Schneller and houses 44,879 UNRWA registered refugees and over 17,500 displaced persons.^[1]

History[link]

Initially, the camp consisted of tents erected on land area covering some 917,000 square metres. Plans to provide stronger tents for the harsh winters were shelved by United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) so as to construct 4,000 prefabricated shelters instead, between 1969 and 1971. Funding for the construction came from the Federal Republic of Germany, the Government of Italy, the Jordan Development Bank, and Near East Emergency Donations. Over the years since, many of the camp's inhabitants have built their own more durable concrete shelters.^[1]

Public services[link]

Two secondary schools in the camp are operated by the government of Jordan and there is a health centre operated by Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP UK). A local committee in the camp operate a sewing centre and a computer centre. All other education, health and social services are provided by UNRWA, whose 418 staff members run 10 schools serving 9,492 pupils and two health centres for some 1012 patients a day. Over 600 families in the camp receive extra assistance through a special hardship case programme and sanitation works are also provided by UNRWA. A women's programme centre run by local women and a community rehabilitation centre which provides day-care also benefit from UNRWA support.^[1]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Marka, articles from UNWRA

v t e Palestinian refugee camps1 locations and populations as of 2005  Gaza Strip 986,034 refugees  Jordan 2,127,877 refugees  Lebanon 404,170 refugees  Syria 432,048 refugees  West Bank 699,817 refugees Al-Shati (Beach) 76,109 Bureij 30,059 Deir al-Balah 20,188 Jabalya 175,646 Khan Yunis 60,662 Maghazi 22,536 Nuseirat 64,233 Rafah 90,638 Canada Camp disbanded Amman New 390,805 Baqa'a 120,100 Husn 19,573 Irbid camp 35,512 Jabal el-Hussein 100,674 Jerash 30,696 Marka 41,237 Souf 21,911 Talbieh 4,041 Zarqa 180,344 Beddawi 15,695 Burj el-Barajneh 19,526 Burj el-Shemali 18,134 Dbayeh 4,223 Dikwaneh destroyed Ein el-Hilweh 44,133 El-Buss 9,840 Jisr el-Basha destroyed Mar Elias 1,406 Mieh Mieh 5,078 Nabatieh destroyed Nahr el-Bared 28,358 Rashidieh 24,679 Sabra Shatila 11,998 Tel al-Zaatar destroyed Wavel 7,357 Dera'a 5,916 Dera'a (emergency) 5,536 Hama 7,597 Homs 13,825 Jaramana 5,007 Khan Dunoun 8,603 Khan Eshieh 15,731 Neirab 17,994 Qabr Essit 16,016 Sbeineh 19,624 Latakia 6,534 Yarmouk 350,550 Ein Al-Tal 4,329 Abu Dis Aida 3,260 Am'ari 8,083 Aqabat Jabr 5,197 al-'Arrub 9,180 Askar 31,894 'Azza 1,828 Balata 41,681 Deir Ammar 2,189 Dheisheh 10,923 Ein Beit al-Ma' 6,221 Ein as-Sultan 1,888 Far'a 12,836 Fawwar 7,072 Jalazone 9,284 Jenin 35,050 Kalandia 9,188 Nur Shams 8,179 Shuafat (Shu'fat) 9,567 Tulkarm 17,259 1 The UNRWA definition of a "Palestinian refugee" is a person "whose normal place of residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948, who lost both their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict ... UNRWA's definition of a refugee also covers the descendants of persons who became refugees in 1948." [1] Palestinian exodus · United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)

Coordinates: 32°00′32.86″N 36°01′13.71″E / 32.0091278°N 36.020475°E / 32.0091278; 36.020475

Refugee camp for Rwandans located in what is now eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo following the Rwandan Genocide.

A camp in Guinea for refugees from Sierra Leone.

Nahr el-Bared, Palestinian refugee camp in North Lebanon in 2005.

A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees. Hundreds of thousands of people may live in any one single camp. Usually they are built and run by a government, the United Nations, or international organizations, (such as the Red Cross) or NGOs.

Refugee camps are generally set up in an impromptu fashion and designed to meet basic human needs for only a short time. Some refugee camps are dirty and unhygienic. If the return of refugees is prevented (often by civil war), a humanitarian crisis can result.

Some refugee camps have existed for decades and some people can stay in refugee camps for decades, both of which have major implications for human rights. Some grow into permanent settlements and even merge with nearby older communities, such as Ein el-Helweh and Deir al-Balah.

Facilities[link]

Facilities of a refugee camp can include the following:

• Sleeping accommodations (tents)
• Hygiene facilities (cleaning and toilets)
• Medical supplies
• Communication equipment (e.g. radio)
• Protection from bandits (e.g. barriers, checkpoints, peacekeeping troops).

Duration[link]

People may stay in these camps, receiving emergency food and medical aid, until it is safe to return to their homes. In some cases, often after several years, other countries decide it will never be safe to return these people, and they are resettled in "third countries," away from the border they crossed. Although camps are intended to be temporary, it is possible for camps to remain in place for decades. Palestinian refugee camps have existed for 50 years, while other well-known camps such as Buduburam have hosted populations for over 20 years.

Exportation[link]

Globally, about 17 countries (Australia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States) regularly accept "quota refugees" from refugee camps.^[1] Refugee camps are typically used to describe settlements of people who have escaped war in their home country and have fled to a country of first asylum. In recent years, most quota refugees have come from Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Liberia, Somalia, and Sudan, which have been in various wars and revolutions, and the former Yugoslavia, due to the Yugoslav wars.

Notable camps[link]

Darfur refugee camp in Chad

Notable refugee camps:

• Camps in the east of Chad, such as Breidjing Camp, hosting approximately 250,000 refugees from the Darfur region in Sudan (since 2002)
• Buduburam refugee camp, home to more than 12,000 Liberians^[2] (opened 1990)
• Camps in the south of Chad, hosting approximately 50,000 refugees from Central African Republic
• Dadaab refugee camps in North Eastern Kenya
• Palestine refugee camps (opened 1948)
• Camps on the Thai-Cambodian border between 1979 and 1993: Nong Samet, Nong Chan, Sa Kaeo, Site Two, Khao-I-Dang
• Philippine Refugee Processing Center for Vietnamese, Laotian, and Cambodian refugees fleeing wars in Indochina.
• Four Sahrawi refugee camps near Tindouf, Algeria (opened circa 1976)
• Camps for Sri Lankan Tamils, 110,000 in India in 1998, and more than 560,000 internally displaced [Starting 1983]
• Israeli immigrant camps (1947–1950) and Ma'abarot transition camps (1950–1963) to accommodate Jewish refugees and immigrants in Israel.
• Niatak refugee camp of Afghan refugees in Iran.
• Lampedusa immigrant reception center for refugees, asylum seekers and illegal immigrants on the Italian island of Lampedusa.
• Ras Ajdir refugee camp on Libyan-Tunisian border, housing more than 30,000 Libyan refugees(opened 2011)
• Hatay Province (Turkey) camps for Syrian refugees (opened 2011)

See also[link]

• Displaced Persons camp
• Tent city
• Transitional shelter
• United Nations Border Relief Operation which administered camps in Thailand 1982-1993.
• United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
• United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Refugee camps

• Camp Management Toolkit published by Norwegian Refugee Council
• Shelter Library Resource for organisations responding to the transitional settlement and shelter needs of displaced populations
• Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City. An awareness raising touring event organized by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
• U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants' Campaign to End Refugee Warehousing in refugee camps around the world, people are confined to their settlement and denied their basic rights.
• Refuge Essay on Life in a Refugee Camp
• Thai-Cambodian Border Camps
• An Assessment of Sphere Humanitarian Standards for Shelter and Settlement Planning in Kenya’s Dadaab Refugee Camps