Sustainability in Refugee Camps: A Comparison of the Two Largest Refugee Camps in the World

Abstract

Although the refugee phenomenon is not new and refugee camps are rarely temporary, in most cases, the procedures implemented within refugee camps have failed to apply principles of sustainability to ensure refugees’ dignity and improve their quality of life, thereby helping them become independent and self-reliant. This improvement, in turn, may help them return to their homes in the future or may, at least, reduce the high cost and negative coping strategies associated with refugee camps and instead increase refugees’ social integration within the host community. This paper discusses the procedures applied in both the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan and the Dadaab Refugee Complex in Kenya and provides evidence regarding the extent to which they meet the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development without leaving refugees behind. Furthermore, this paper shows how sustainable development goals (SDGs) are interconnected in a refugee camp setting. This study concludes that refugee camps not only failed to align with 2030 agenda but failed to ensure refugees’ basic rights where a more inclusive and sustainable approach is required to improve the refugees’ quality of life and to help them live in dignity and reach self-reliance that can benefit both refugees and their host communities.

Nutritional status of Syrian female migrants in Turkey: a cross- sectional study

“…Because of the language barrier, they cannot understand health education about healthy nutrition and are not aware of healthy eating habits. Inadequate healthcare literacy prevents progress in solving nutritional problems [18], [26].…”

Indexing climatic and environmental exposure of refugee camps with a case study in East Africa

“…Given that the global refugee population has steadily grown in recent years and a typical refugee can expect to stay in a camp for a decade or more, camp management strategies, especially in protracted refugee situations, must be more responsive to current and future exposure 48 , 49 . This research offers three contributions to climate-sensitive decision-making in refugee contexts: a quantitative, integrated assessment of the environmental and climatic exposure of refugee camps relative to other camps and border sites within each country; identification of the main drivers of exposure in each refugee camp and across a country; and methods that are designed to be iterated in novel refugee contexts with potentially different drivers of exposure, which has been a key limitation of previous studies on refugee camp exposure 50 .…”

Measuring the SDGs in Refugee Camps: An Insight into Arab States Bordering Syria

“…Refugees usually experience a lack of access to basic needs, such as shelter, food, water, healthcare, and education. Meanwhile, hosting countries struggle to afford the unforeseen flow of refugees, rendering a massive strain on them and limiting their potential for sustainable development [10,16]. RCs are considered temporary; however, they turn to long-term and even to permanent settlements, where refugees end up spending decades in what are supposed to be temporary settlements [17].…”