More than 6,000 children living in a Syrian refugee camp have benefited from humanitarian aid provided by Bahrain.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) released a report detailing Bahrain’s contributions, through the Royal Charity Organisation (RCO), to the Al Azraq refugee camp – Jordan’s second largest camp, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

The $3.5 million project initially included 500 housing units that can host 4,000 people, a medical centre, schools and a supermarket.

However, the plans changed in December last year and the aid was directed 
towards building more than 1,000 shelters and providing infrastructure for another 2,775 shelters.

“In late March 2013, the government of Jordan approved the construction of Azraq 
camp as Zaatari camp was reaching its capacity,” read the report.

“Azraq camp had the advantage of a timed construction and took into account the lessons learned from Zaatari during the design and construction phases.

“Azraq refugee camp opened in late April 2014 with 5,000 completed shelters, 720 in progress and another 5,000 planned.

“At the end of 2014, the Azraq population stood at 11,441 with a capacity to host approximately 50,000 people.

“In August 2014, the UNHCR and RCO signed a memorandum of understanding whereby the RCO provided a generous donation of $3.53 million to support the construction of shelters in Azraq, infrastructure works and the establishment of two health clinics.

“The agreement was signed on August 7, 2014 with the implementation period running from June to December 2014.

“However, in December it was agreed to reallocate funds for health activities to shelter as the already-established health clinics had sufficient capacity to address the health needs of the camp population.”  

The report also stated that just over $2 million was allocated for the construction of the shelters, while the remaining was spent on infrastructure, including providing flooring and upgrading public areas and maintenance throughout the camp.

“The entire camp population of 11,441 persons benefited from project activities during the reporting period through the generous support of the RCO,” the report said.

“Of those, 6,178 were children, 2,426 men and 2,837 women.

“The generous contribution of the RCO was personally acknowledged by UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres through thank you letters to RCO chairman Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa.”

The GDN earlier reported that the project was being funded from the $20 million contribution to support the humanitarian situation in Syria, which was announced last year by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister.

The $45 million Al Azraq camp, located 100km east of Amman, is Jordan’s sixth camp for Syrian refugees, which was officially opened in April last year.

It is Jordan’s second largest camp after the Za’atari refugee camp, located 10km east of Mafraq and was opened in July 2012. - TradeArabia News Service