Multiple Committees Working to Remove Rubble in Yarmouk

The Damascus governorate appears to be moving towards implementing the provisions of Law No. 3 of 2018, which concerns rubble removal, in parts of the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp. It is still unclear how the law will be implemented, especially as a previous committee set up to remove rubble from the camp remains in existence.

The Action Group for Palestinians of Syria, a rights organisation, reported in mid-May 2022 that the Damascus governorate had agreed to remove rubble from the Yarmouk camp in accordance with Law No. 3 of 2018. According to the Action Group, the move was meant to address the buildings damaged during battles and was aimed at removing those that violated construction codes according to various laws, most notably Decree No. 40 of 2012.

To begin implementing Law No. 3 in any part of Syria, the governor of that area issues a decree specifying the real estate area and damaged buildings to be removed, based on a proposal from the local administrative unit. This decree must be published in the Official Gazette. The governor of Damascus has issued no such decree so far for Yarmouk. In any case, after issuance of a decree, the governor forms a committee to categorise the damaged buildings and verify who owns them. The committee also determines the structural integrity of the buildings in question and recommends whether to demolish them completely or partially or to leave them intact.

Strangely, a committee already exists called the Yarmouk Committee for Rubble Removal and Restoration of the Old Cemetery, which has supervised the removal of rubble from the camp in recent months. This committee was formed in September 2018 by a decision from the Commitee to Monitor the Return of Displaced Palestinians to the Yarmouk Camp. The latter includes representatives from various Palestinian-Syrian organisations, most notably the Higher Follow-Up Committee for Palestinian Factions, the General Administration for Palestine Arab Refugees (GAPAR) and the ambassador of the Palestinian Authority in Damascus, in coordination with relevant Syrian authorities. The Yarmouk Committee met in November 2021 with the president of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, thanking him for covering their work expenses and suggesting he would continue to provide support. It remains unclear whether the Yarmouk Committee is working in accordance with Law No. 3.

In implementing Law No. 3, it is also unclear whether the Damascus governorate will simply rely on previous work carried out by the Yarmouk Committee or form a new committee. Over the course of 2021, the existing committee worked to classify buildings in the camp, sorting them into three categories that it posted on the buildings’ entryways: those that are habitable, denoted by an empty circle; those that may be restored, denoted by a circle with a slash; and those that are uninhabitable, denoted by a circle with an “X”. Such work appears to be consistent with the tasks of the categorisation and ownership documentation committee stipulated in Law No. 3.

Notably, the Yarmouk Committee announced in mid-February 2022 that it had stopped its work. It didn’t provide a reason. Citing committee members, activists said that the committee had halted because it ran out of funds. However, a source informed on the matter told The Syria Report that the Damascus governorate had requested that the committee stop its work–again, without providing a reason.

Before halting work in February, the Yarmouk Committee asked returnees to clear their homes of debris and leave it in the streets for the committee to later remove. However, the committee tasked by Law No. 3 with classifying buildings and documenting their ownership has no direct role in removing such rubble.

According to a correspondent for The Syria Report, many Yarmouk returnees – whether permanent or temporary – had already removed the debris from their homes and piled it into the streets. This has caused an overflow of rubble, especially in the Al-Taqaddom, Al-Thawra, Al-Aroubeh and 15th Street neighbourhoods. These are the areas in which Law No. 3 implementation is set to begin.