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Support
for the Women’s Center in the Kurdish Refugee Camp Maxmur
Between
1993 and 1995 more than 17.000 Kurds from the Turkish-Iraqi border region were
forced to leave their homes due to military operations and the destruction of
their villages. Within 10 years the refugees have been forced to change their
place of abode seven times. Each time they had to reconstruct their tents and
shelters and establish living conditions for thousands of people. Since May
1998 a population of over 10.000 Kurdish refugees, the majority of which are
women and children, has been staying in a camp under the protection of the
UNHCR. Located in the vicinity of the town of Maxmur, the camp is situated in
the middle of a desert, short of water and plagued by scorpions. The area is 2
km to the south of the 36th latitude, i.e. outside the area known as the
“no-fly zone” and under the control of the Iraqi central authorities.
Despite all obstacles the refugees have been trying to build up a little
infrastructure, social institutions and schools by their own means and
efforts.
In
summer 2001, the Women’s Center of the refugee camp of Maxmur addressed the
International Free Women’s Foundation with an application for financial and
professional support for their activities.
Since
then the IFWF has made efforts to bring the situation of the Kurdish refugees
in Iraq and especially the initiative of the women of Maxmur to the public. A
campaign to collect donations was started with the participation of several
groups and individuals, in order to ensure the necessary financial support. In
this framework there emerged the idea to send a women’s delegation to the
refugee camp to hand over the collected donations to the Women’s Center and
to discuss the prospective of long term cooperation with the refugee women
themselves.
In
autumn 2002 due to the political tensions following the announcement of the
government of the USA to launch a military campaign against Iraq, the
delegation was confronted with delays and technical obstacles. Therefore the
delegation arrived in Maxmur on 13 September 2002 only and had to cut the
scheduled stay down from 14 to 3 days. During the time of the stay, the
delegation tried to obtain an overview of the living conditions of the
refugees and to collect information about the projects and institutions of the
refugees. The members of the delegation visited the Women’s Center, the
health care center, the camp council, the relief organization for relatives of
war victims and a tailoring workshop.
In
spite of the changing circumstances the visit of the delegation was an
important step towards establishing a cooperation between the initiatives of
the refugees and the world outside and towards collecting impressions of the
current situation of the refugees. The most important impression was that
the
refugees are involved in manifold activities, do not accept their destiny and
work on organizing their life in the camp and improving their living
conditions, even though they all have the strong desire to go back to their
home villages as soon as possible. The members of the delegation collected
important information, impressions and facts about the refugee camp Maxmur.
With this material it will be possible to provide the necessary information to
the public as well as to interested professionals and organizations. Thus the
stay of the delegation and the direct contact with the refugee women marks the
first step towards a continuous collaboration and a development of the health
care and education facilities in the camp.
During
the year 2002 the IFWF has organized several public meetings in order to
inform the public in different European cities about the situation of the
refugees. Participants of the delegation have been invited as speakers to
multicultural events and seminars by different organizations such as the FORUM
in Utrecht (NL), CASA in Haarlem (NL) and the Students Union of the University
of Bielefeld (Germany). In order to appeal to the UNHCR to take precautions
for the lives of the refugees during the time of a war against Iraq, an open
letter campaign has been started and supported by over 1.000 petitioners so
far. These activities and a campaign for urgent action will be continued
throughout the year 2003.
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