In a remote stretch of the desert near Syria’s borders with Jordan and Iraq, fragile tents housing an estimated 50,000 Syrian internally displaced persons dot an otherwise barren landscape. As you gaze around, the vastness of the desert makes you wonder if you have chanced upon the long-lost location of the proverbial ‘nowhere.’
Fleeing the violence their government had unleashed, tens of thousands of Syrians, overwhelmingly women and children, trekked to this no-man’s land to seek a respite from the war. Some also limped across the desert under a blistering sun to get here from areas in central and eastern Syria that ISIS had used suicide attacks to capture. Too fearful to return to their homes, and with Jordan blocking their entry, they have become, instead, stranded in these desolate parts of the desert where simple mercies prove elusive. With no reliable access to humanitarian relief, they now live on the brink of starvation.
During a recent round of diplomatic engagements I conducted at the United Nations to highlight the plight of these displaced persons, the permanent representative of a state with a seat on the Security Council claimed that “no one really knows what’s going on at al-Rukban,” the name of the encampment. In diplospeak, that means no one really cares. Another permanent member representative struggled to answer basic questions.
Do these people have rights? According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the little blue book that sits neatly in stacks on the shelves of the United Nations Bookshop in New York, the answer is yes. At an absolute minimum, their government has an obligation to provide them with security. Yet, these Syrians are in jeopardy because of their own government, which will not even allow international relief agencies to reach them with lifesaving aid.
Likewise, Jordan insists that relief should be supplied through Syrian, not Jordanian, territories. Rights are therefore not inalienable here; the natural right tradition seems to have dissolved in the winter muds of the camp.
Shell-shocked, a father of two mourns the loss of his six-month-old baby girl to the dearth of baby milk. His daughter is only one of at least 15 children whose lives have been snuffed out by malnutrition and lack of medical care at al-Rukban, according to UNICEF. In a voice heavy with shame, he expresses hope he can manage to find just enough food to keep her twin brother from meeting the same fate.
Since a safe and dignified return home is not possible for the majority of the residents, the spokesperson of the internally displaced persons pleaded earlier this year for their evacuation to opposition-controlled areas in northern Syria. He also noted that the United States-led anti-ISIS coalition stationed at a base less than 10 miles away had ignored their requests for safe passage north. The American garrison has allegedly displayed a “none of our business” attitude toward the plight of their forsaken neighbors, even though the U.S. is now an ‘occupying power’ in Syria with obligations towards the civilian population in areas under its control. “We have met with American officials at the base multiple times,” says Mahmoud Qasim al-Humaili, an officer with the civilian administration of the camp, “but received invariably the same response: ‘We are on a military mission. We don’t have a humanitarian mandate, but we will pass on your pleas.’ We have yet to hear back from them.”
The American forces at al-Tanf can and should help the starving residents of al-Rukban. They should begin by evacuating the women and children, who make up about two thirds of the camp’s population. To mitigate any security concerns, the help of the U.S.-backed Free Syrian Army partner forces who also man the American base should be enlisted. Jaysh Maghawir Al-Thawra, for example, can screen the male population, just as the Syrian Democratic Forces processed the civilians who recently fled ISIS’s last enclave in al-Baghouz. If it can be done in al-Hol, it can be done in al-Rukban — a much more benign environment.
Washington was recently up in arms over President Trump’s decision to pull American troops out of Syria. If Washington would like to maintain a helpful presence in Syria, it would behoove the U.S. to ensure that no more babies freeze and starve to death right under its nose in al-Rukban. That would be the American thing to do.
Mohammed Alaa Ghanem is a Syrian pro-democracy campaigner and human rights activist, and a former assistant professor at the University of Damascus, Syria.
