page_title: Azraq refugee camp
section_title: Actuality
hierarchical_section_title: Azraq refugee camp / Actuality
caption_attribution_description: English: In 2014 the Azraq Camp was established in the desert near a Jordanian air base 80 kilometers east of Amman. Many of the huts remain empty as the harsh location and basic conditions are unpopular among Syrian refugees. العربية: مخيم الأزرق وهو منطقة سكنية تقع في لواء قصبة الزرقاء، محافظة الزرقاء في الأردن.
context_page_description: The Azraq refugee camp is a refugee camp, located near Azraq, Jordan, built for refugees of the Syrian Civil War. It was developed, and is operated, by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in conjunction with the Government of Jordan. It first opened in April 2014. As of March 2016 it had over 32,000 refugees in it; by August 2019 that number was over 35,000.
context_section_description: Once open, the camp did not become populated to the extent expected.  By March 2015 the Azraq refugee camp had only 14,500 refugees, when it had been anticipated there would be over 60,000 by then.  Some of the reasons were external, such as fear of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant fighters entering Jordan along with refugees or the Jordanian government worried about possible donor fatigue and the long-term expense of housing a refugee population.  But other reasons were due to the camp itself: more than half of the 35,000 refugees who had entered the camp had already left (most would settle illegally in Jordanian towns and cities).
  One early issue at the camp was the absence of electricity, due to the remoteness of the camp from other populated areas.  Refugees thus had to make use of solar lanterns instead.  Among other effects, this made it difficult for refugees to keep their mobile phones charged and thus stay in contact with family members outside the camp.  Gradually a few generators became available.  Other refugees worried about mice, snakes, and scorpions.  The desolate nature of the camp worked against itself; as one elderly refugee said when he arrived with his relatives, "When I first arrived and saw the camp, I almost had a heart attack. The sense of emptiness and uncertainty overwhelmed me."
  By June 2015 the Azraq refugee camp still had only around 18,500 refugees in it.  The most commonly cited reasons for refugees not wanting to stay there were very hot temperatures in the summer months, continued chronic absences of electricity, and high food prices.  Some refugees in the camp received permits to visit Jordanian cities and then never returned.  The camp remained safe in security terms but, as a saying there went, "the only risk is that you will die from boredom."  Other refugees made the best of it; a UNHCR fundraising letter profiled a 65-year-old, formerly wealthy Syrian who collected scraps of discarded materials around camp and created from them toys for camp children, thus becoming known as the "Inventor of Azraq".
  As the Syrian refugee crisis attained global public awareness in late 2015, the state of the Azraq refugee camp became involved in political considerations.  In November 2015, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson visited the camp, as part of trying to bolster his foreign policy expertise during his 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.  He concluded that rather than refugees coming to the United States, they should be sheltered in nearby countries in the Middle East.
  Population of the camp gradually increased throughout the second half of 2015, but remained well below initial expectations.  By early 2016, another problem with filling the camp were the large numbers of refugees being held up at a military-controlled area along the border with Syria where there was slow processing of them due to security and other reasons.  Efforts to improve the electricity situation at the camp continued, with a 6-megawatt, $10 million solar power project underway, the first parts of which were scheduled to come online in mid-2016.
  In March 2019 the Women and Girls Safe Space Centre was opened within the camp by the Danish Refugee Council.  With activities including protection awareness, support groups, and recreational and financial skills training activities, it proved to be a popular resource within the camp.  By then the camp's population numbered over 35,000.
caption: Nature of camp, March 2018
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot SX620 HS", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2017:03:31 11:46:37", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "246", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 3, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "9280", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "180", "Thumbnail YResolution": "180", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "20468", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4333", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/500", "EXIF FNumber": "63/10", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "160", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Standard Output Sensitivity and Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2017:03:31 11:46:37", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2017:03:31 11:46:37", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "287/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "85/16", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "85/16", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "106893/1000", "EXIF SubSecTime": "67", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "67", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "67", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "5184", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3888", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "5184", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "3888", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "9170", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "1036800/49", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "486000/23", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF CameraOwnerName": ""}