AZRAQ REFUGEE CAMP, Jordan — A barbed wire-topped fence encircles a section of this bleak U.N.-run camp, isolating thousands of recent arrivals — whom Jordan considers a potential security risk — from other Syrian refugees.
This camp-within-a-camp, called “Village 5,” was set up in late March as part of an uneasy trade-off between Jordan and international aid agencies trying to speed up admissions of tens of thousands of refugees stranded in remote desert areas on the kingdom’s border.
Under the deal, Jordan agreed to let in about 300 Syrians a day, or five times more than before, on condition that newcomers are isolated in Azraq for more security checks. Jordan says strict vetting is crucial to prevent Islamic State extremists, who control large areas of Syria, from infiltrating the kingdom.
In turn, aid agencies agreed to put traumatized war survivors behind barbed wire, if only temporarily.
Yet neither side expects the new admissions deal to empty out two rapidly growing encampments on the Syrian-Jordanian border. Instead, the population there — currently at 64,000, half of them children — is expected to reach 100,000 by the end of the year if fighting in Syria continues.
The two encampments sit between low earthen mounds, or berms, that run in parallel lines, about two kilometers (1.2 miles) apart in an area where the border isn’t clearly marked.
Refugees live in tents or shelters made of tarp, wood scraps and even women’s scarves, exposed to the desert’s extreme cold, heat and sand storms. Lack of latrines and trash collection has led to the spread of diarrhea and infections.
Delivering aid to the berm has become one of the U.N. refugee agency’s most challenging and costly operations in the Middle East, said spokeswoman Ariane Rummery, citing “remoteness of locations, extreme weather conditions, lack of access roads, and risk of escalating insecurity.”
Other aid officials worry that ramping up support will inadvertently transform the jumble of shelters into de facto refugee camps in unsafe areas.
Yet saving lives trumps any misgivings at a time when Syrians are increasingly trapped in their homeland, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters about the conditions at the berm.
Neighboring Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, which have absorbed the bulk of close to 5 million Syrian refugees since 2011, have severely restricted admissions, while doors to Europe are slamming shut.
Jordan has taken in about 650,000 refugees and says it has already done more than its share.
Those now waiting at the border are the responsibility of the international community, said Jordanian government spokesman Mohammed Momani.
