The camp is located near Dohuk. It is a hot and cramped area and despite many years there has been no solution by the local authorities for the people that live in the camp. I visited the place in 2019 and saw the conditions, with people living in tents in rows, with many needing work and having the most basic of living conditions. These are families who fled genocide and in many cases had relatives kidnapped or killed by ISIS. In some cases their relatives survived and were able to return, only to find themselves living in a camp without the support they need to find their way after the horrors of genocide.
Unfortunately this is not the first time the world has abandoned genocide survivors to life in displaced persons or refugee camps. After the Holocaust many Jews had to live in IDP camps, some of which were not closed for years.
The fire in Sharya camp damaged many homes and shelters. Nadia Murad, a Yazidi activist who has spoken internationally about the need to prosecute ISIS for genocide and who has been active in causes such as memorializing the mass graves where Yazidis were killed by ISIS, wrote on twitter that she was “devastated to see Yazidi families lose 450+ shelters to a fire in Sharya Camp. Camp conditions threaten the lives of displaced Yazidis every day. This is unacceptable. Let us send tangible support, not sympathy, to affected families.”
Supporters of the victims who now are homeless in Sharya after the fire have begun a Go Fund Me campaign to aid the camp. Ashti Heydar writes on the campaign that “according to the authorities, there are many kids and infants that they need an immediate need in terms of clothes, diapers and fresh food. Many people who were in these tents, lost all of their life savings and furniture that they had. It is summer time in Iraq now , this money will also buy supplies to help these families to find a cooler place until everything is settled.
Zirak Hameed wrote on Facebook that the fire that burned the shelters was out of control. “The camp fire truck was broken. The fire was so big that all the fire trucks from Duhok city weren't able to control it. We went to the camp, the fire was next to our center. People were evacuating their tents, faces of disappointments, ladies and women crying helplessly. Hundreds of families are homeless now. All their possessions and what they collected in the past seven years is burned to ashes.”
Sharya camp has received support from many grass roots supporters who care for the Yazidi cause. However the camp’s needs are so large that these initiatives require support and the fire illustrates how tenuous life is for the survivors of genocide.