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The information included here predates the start of the conflict in Syria in March 2011. For more up-to-date information, please visit the Syria crisis page.
Sbeineh camp is situated beside Sbeineh town, 14km south of Damascus.
The camp was established in 1948 on an area of 0.03 square kilometres in what has become a busy industrial area. It also accommodates Palestine refugees who were displaced as a result of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
The majority of refugees work in Sbeineh's factories and industrial plants. Although they are themselves landless, others keep their ancestors’ agricultural heritage alive, working as day labourers or seasonal harvesters of crops on Syrian-owned farms. Women often work as housemaids in Damascus to supplement family income.
As in other camps, water and sanitation management remains one of the biggest problems. The sewerage system needs to be expanded and upgraded to cope with the increasing camp population. The camp lacks a properly piped water network and refugees have relied on local wells as their main water source. Wells have been drying up due to the semi-drought conditions in recent years and the refugees have had to buy water, usually of poor quality, from other sources.
