New upgraded shelters in camp for displaced Yezidis after fire

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Families in the Sharya camp whose tents were destroyed by a devastating fire earlier this month will move into new, temporary shelters after the Kurdistan Regional Government gave the green light for their construction.

“UNHCR, which leads the Camp Coordination/Camp Management and Shelter Clusters in Iraq, welcomes the Government's decision to allow the construction of semi-upgraded shelters in camps for displaced persons in Duhok Governorate,” the UN Refugee Agency said on Wednesday.

“The decision represents a longer-term response to the large fire in Shariya IDP camp on 4 June and will not only reduce risks of fire but is a positive step in terms of protection, dignity, safety, and privacy for each individual family,” it said.

More than 400 tents were destroyed and several people wounded in the fire that broke out at Sharya camp in Duhok province on June 4. The camp primarily houses Yezidis who were displaced from their homes by ISIS. 

Sozan Fahmi, the Iraq coordinator for the humanitarian organization Khalsa Aid, which is helping aid efforts in the camp, told Kurdistan 24 that the plan is now to bring families who were displaced by the fire into the new tents temporarily. “They're going to be staying there until they finish their shelters.”

She added that only families affected by the fire would move into the new shelters, cautioning that other families might want similar accommodation.

“So I'm afraid that this might create some problems within the camp,” Fahmi added.

Pari Ibrahim, Founder and Executive Director of the Free Yezidi Foundation, told Kurdistan 24, that “there have been many, many fires” in camps hosting displaced Yezidis, “but this was the largest yet.”

“Yezidi IDPs deserve safe, voluntary, dignified return to their areas of origin at the time of their choosing. Until that time, basic safety of IDPs is the least that can be done,” she said.

“The demands from the Yezidi community are not enormous – just safer camp conditions and housing,” she underlined.

Fire is a major concern in the camps, Ibrahim explained, with families sometimes sleeping in shifts to keep watch. 

“Basic needs, fire protection, and safer housing can prevent disastrous fires like we saw in Sharya, and we have been advocating consistently for such considerations to be taken seriously by UN agencies and the government.”