Ten years of Conflict: Restoring Family Link Services for Syrian Refugees in Za atari Camp
Za’atari is 5.3 square kilometers and lies some 10 km east of the Mafraq Governorate of Jordan. It houses a refugee camp, established in July 2012, to accommodate those fleeing from the armed conflict in Syria. When it was first opened, it reportedly had 15’000 persons and in 2018, considered the worst year of the Syrian humanitarian crisis, its population was said to have hit 78’000. Today, the camp ranks as probably the largest for Syrian refugees anywhere in the world.
The ICRC provides various services to Syrian refugees in Jordan, in partnership with the Jordan Red Crescent Society (JRCS). One of these services is known as the “Restoring Family Links” program, popularly called RFL. It involves efforts made to locate persons missing due to an armed conflict and putting them back into contact with their loved ones. In the course of doing this, the ICRC and JRCS trace people, fa