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In pictures: Syrian refugees left in the cold

Residents of the Domiz refugee camp in Iraq’s Kurdistan region prepare for winter.

The youngest children in the Domiz refugee camp in Iraqi Kurdistan are not aware of the conflict in Syria. To them, the camp is their home.
By Khaled Hasan
Published On 30 Nov 2013

The number of Syrian refugees in Iraq’s Kurdistan region has reached 200,000. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) expects that the number may exceed 500,000 by the end of 2013.

There are about 80,000 refugees currently living in the Domiz camp, 20km southeast of Dohuk city and about 60km from the Syria-Iraq border.

Local authorities established the camp in April 2012. The Kurdish security police ensure security there and in the surrounding areas.

The authorities are keeping the borders open for Syrians of Kurdish origin. Refugees walk the three-mile dirt road snaking through no-man’s land to the Kurdish region of Iraq. The Sahela border crossing is the main escape route for Syrians of Kurdish origin.

“When a country is physically destroyed, its people dying and fleeing and a state and its services collapsing, the most important thing a neighbour can do is to keep the borders open. The Kurdistan region is an anchor of peace and stability in a very troubled part of the world,” António Guterres, UNHCR chief, said.

Guterres called the Syria conflict the “worst threat to global peace and security since the last century. We are witnessing death and destruction, the collapse of the state and the enormous suffering of the people”.

He noted that all relief agencies are dramatically underfunded at a time when millions of Syrians are in need of humanitarian assistance inside Syria and the number of refugees is fast approaching two million.

Winter has come. Syrian people are waiting to collect blankets and heaters to save them from the cold.
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In the Domiz refugee camp, the UNHCR supports all Syrian refugee families who enter its gates.
Child refugees are seen playing outside on the ground and with sand.
Bayan Naeef Abd Al Rahman, 19, lives with her family in the Domiz camp. After arriving in Kurdistan she left school and is now taking a short course in English. Her dream is to go to Europe.
Inside the camp, people who have enough money are building new houses. But there is apparently no discrimination between the rich and poor.
A mother takes her children for a walk inside the camp. 
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Refugees in the camp say that, at first, the conflicts in Syria started between locals and then slowly spread to the rest of the country.
Life in the camp is good but the future does not seem too bright for its youngest members.