From Camp to City. Obstacles to Overcome
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From camp to city. Obstacles to overcome Jorren Bosmans Student number: 01303878 Supervisor: Prof. Joachim Declerck Master's dissertation submitted in order to obtain the academic degree of Master of Science in de ingenieurswetenschappen: architectuur Academic year 2018-2019 Acknowledgements To professor Joachim Declerck, who provided assistance and guidance in a field that was previously unknown to me. To Yousef Abu-Safieh and his wife Maghboobe, who presented me with a home in a foreign country and cared for me like a son. To Taha Albess and Mohamad Elayan, who helped me understand the inner workings of the Palestinian refugee crisis and who work daily to lighten the burden of the many refugees in the West bank. To Mousa Anbar, who provided inside knowledge on life in Jalazone camp and who showed me the most interesting places inside the camp’s urban jungle. The author gives permission to make this master dissertation available for consultation and to copy parts of this master dissertation for personal use. In all cases of other use, the copyright terms have to be respected, in particular with regard to the obligation to state explicitly the source when quoting results from this master dissertation. 28/05/2019 Abstract In recent decades, refugee camps have existed for increasingly longer periods of time. Protracted refugee situations have become the new norm due to prolonged conflicts and due to both humanitarian agencies and host governments preferring to keep refugees in camps. Although refugee workers are aware of long-term possibilities, in practice refugee care is mostly aimed at the initial emergency assistance. Refugees are perceived to remain in this initial stage until one of the long-term solutions to a refugee crisis can be achieved. Despite this prejudice, refugee camps are observed to undergo transformations over time. Authors have described how camps become urbanised when refugees start their own businesses, new identities get formed and camps become connected to the rest of the country due to the exchange of goods, people and information. With a couple interventions, the camp management could stimulate further urbanisation, to be used as a development tool for refugees in the intermediate future. This allows for the initial steps towards self- sufficiency, which will drastically lower refugee costs. Additionally, this will also stimulate interaction between the refugees and local habitants in the hopes of creating a symbiotic relation, where both groups can profit of each other. Lastly, a development model will also allow the refugees to take back control over their lives and regain some of their humanity. Key words: refugee camps, urbanisation, protracted refugee situations, development Vluchtelingkampen blijven steeds langer bestaan. Het idee van een kamp als tijdelijke oplossing blijkt achterhaald. Hulporganisaties en de landen waar de optreden verkiezen vaak een kamp boven andere oplossingen, wanneer ze geconfronteerd worden met een instroom van vluchtelingen. De visibiliteit die een kamp biedt, maakt het een gegeerd instrument om assistentie te bekomen van internationale donors. Bovendien maakt een kamp het gemakkelijker om vluchtelingen op één plek te houden, met het oog op repatriatie in de nabije toekomst. Ondanks hun tijdelijke karakter, hebben verschillende auteurs beschreven hoe kampen transformaties zullen ondergaan. Deze urbanisatie vertaalt zich in het feit dat de vluchtelingen het kamp naar hun hand beginnen zetten, de ruimte beginnen transformeren en een prototype ‘kamp-stad’ ontstaat. Dit gebeurt meestal ongepland, aangezien de meeste kamp planning gericht is op korte termijn assistentie. Verschillende factoren zullen de evolutie van het kamp beïnvloeden. Met een paar gerichte ingrepen kan men deze evolutie positief stimuleren, zodat de vluchtelingen hiervan de vruchten kunnen plukken. Deze vernieuwde kijk op kamp planning zorgt voor meer persoonlijke ontwikkeling bij de vluchtelingen, wat hun levensstandaard zal verhogen en hun meer kansen biedt op een vruchtbaar leven buiten het kamp. Contents Acknowledgements Abstract List of illustrations/tables List of abbreviations Introduction 1 Part I – The refugee camp as spatial entity 1.1. Refugees and the UNHCR 3 1.2. Camp planning strategies 7 1.3. The camp as the best solution? 13 Part II – Case study: refugee camps in Palestine 2.1. Background information 16 2.1.1. The Arab-Israeli conflict 16 2.1.2. Obstacles to peace: the Israeli settlements 23 2.1.3. The presence of UNRWA 25 2.2. Jalazone refugee camp 27 2.3. Qaddura refugee camp 40 Part III – The camp and the city 3.1. The reality of protracted refugee situations 47 3.1.1. Definition and numbers 47 3.1.2. Causes 51 3.1.3. Consequences 53 3.1.4. Responding to prolonged exile: the development approach 55 3.2. The urbanisation of refugee camps 60 3.2.1. The informal nature of urbanisation 60 3.2.2. Urbanity according to Agier 62 3.2.3. Urbanity according to Montclos & Kagwanja 65 3.2.4. Benefitting from a refugee camp 67 3.3. Instruments of further urbanisation 70 3.3.1. Economic possibilities 70 3.3.2. Integration and the host/refugee relation 75 3.3.3. Refugee policies 81 3.3.4. Refugee identity 84 Part IV – Conclusion 87 Bibliography 91 List of illustrations/tables Part I – The refugee camp as spatial entity 01. States adhering to UN refugee law p. 04 02. Standard camp layout model p. 08 03. Overview of Za'atari refugee camp p. 10 Part II – case study: refugee camps in Palestine 04. UN partition plan for Palestine, 1947 p .17 05. Israel and the Occupied Territories, 1967 p. 19 06. Areas A, B and C in the Westbank, 1995 p. 21 07. Israeli settlements in the Westbank, 2016 p. 24 08. Original camp setup using tents, 1950 p. 27 09. Construction of concrete shelters, 1952 p. 27 10. Horizontal expansion of refugee shelters, 1982 p. 28 11. Shelter typology, used by UNWRA in the 1950s p. 28 12. Overview of Jalazone camp, from the east side p. 30 13. The camp is located alongside the main road Jerusalem-Nablus p. 30 14. Courtyard of the girls’ school p. 30 15. Israeli watchtower overlooking Jalazone camp, 1991 p. 31 16. Overview of Jalazone and the neighbouring settlement Beit-El p. 32 17. The UNWRA boys’ school with the Israeli settlement in the background p. 33 18. Builing block inside the camp destroyed by the IDF p. 33 19-20. Small windows in the UNWRA school, facing the settlement p. 33 21. The urbanisation context of Jalazone camp in 2006 p. 35 22. Concrete pillars are visible on top of buildings, ready for future expansion p. 36 23-24. With increased verticalisation, outside stairwells are now common practice p. 37 25. Gradual expansion of the houses has reduces the street width significantly p. 38 26. House expanded on with a new room, suspended over the alleyway p. 38 27. Old utility pole that got swallowed up by the building extentions p. 38 28. Job distribution in Jalazone camp p. 39 29. Overview of Ramallah and Al-Bireh p. 40 30. The main street of Qaddura camp, filled with shops p. 41 31. The camp is located inside the agglomeration of Ramallah city p. 41 32. Luxery appartments, owned by non-refugees within the camp borders p. 41 33. Non-refugee buildings in Qaddura camp p. 43 34-35. The camp has become indistinguishable from the surrounding city p. 44 36. Job distribution in Qaddura camp p. 45 Part III – The camp and the city 37. Protracted refugee situations under the UNHCR mandate at the end of 2017 p. 48 38. The participation ladder in a DAR program p. 57 39. Kennedy’s proposed location improvement for future refugee camps p. 73 40. Conceptual framework for integration p. 77 List of abbreviations UNHCR The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UNWRA The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East IDP Internally Displaced Persons WHO World Health Organization NGO Non-governmental organization UNICEF The United Nations Children's Fund IDF Israeli Defense Force PLO Palestine Liberation Organization OPEC Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries PNA (PA) Palestinian National Authority DORA Department of Refugee Affairs JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency ARIJ Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem PCBS The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics PRS protracted refugee situations DAR Development Assistance for Refugees ICIP Infrastructure and Camp Improvement Program WFP World Food Programme ROSCA Rotating Savings and Credit Associations Introduction Refugee numbers are on the rise. With the recent conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Myanmar the refugee problem reaches once again all-time highs (UNHCR, 2018). Tens of millions of people worldwide are forced to abandon their homes due to conflict, economic reasons or political prosecution. Problems around shelter and health ask for faster and cheaper solutions. The UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency, is the biggest international body to assist and resettle refugees. An estimated 87,6 percent of all refugees helped by the UNHCR are accommodated in officially designated camps1 (UNHCR, 2018). The refugee camp, the traditional solution to this problem, will be examined and its underlaying problems exposed. The refugee camp has historically been a ‘specialty of poor countries’ (Cambrézy, 2001, p. 72) with the majority of camps located in Africa and Asia, where camps house 83.2% and 95.9% of all refugees respectively. In Europe however, only 14.3% of the refugee population is housed in camps (Cambrézy, 2001). An explanation for the significance of camps in the global South is the increasing interest of host governments in grouping refugees in camps for repatriation and security reasons, instead of allowing refugees to live among the local population (Johnson, 2011). With frequent refugee influxes in these regions, camps have become an ideal solution due to their great cost-efficiency on a bigger scale.