Some 20,000 Of Syria's Rukban Camp Refugees Left In Past Months - UN Humanitarian Chief

Some 20,000 of Syria's Rukban Camp Refugees Left in Past Months - UN Humanitarian Chief

Nearly half of the refugees housed in the Rukban camp in Syria have left the settlement over the past several months, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock said during a UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday

UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th January, 2020) Nearly half of the refugees housed in the Rukban camp in Syria have left the settlement over the past several months, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock said during a UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday.

"Based on available estimates, nearly 20,000 people, some 50 percent of the population, have left the Rukban camp in the past months," Lowcock said.

Lowcock also said that several thousand additional camp residents have expressed a desire to leave, but the United Nations and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent have not been able to facilitate voluntary departures.

In the meantime, durable solutions must be found for those civilians remaining in the camp, Lowcock added.

The Rukban camp - located in south Syria on the border with Jordan and Iraq - falls within the zone occupied by the United States around its At Tanf military base. The US presence has made it difficult for humanitarian workers to access the facility and for refugees to leave.

The Russian and Syrian governments have consistently warned about the deteriorating humanitarian situation at the Rukban refugee camp.