Organized corruption in Idlib | Corruption of managers of humanitarian organizations and local councils negatively impacts on displaced people in their areas

Corruption of local councils is on the rise after the displacement of people from their villages and towns in displacement areas. Local councils continue to operate in areas of displacement as being the official body of the “Salvation Government”, which has the right to speak on behalf of the people and to look for relief organizations to secure the families’ needs on their lists.

The “Salvation Government” also restricts charities, limiting the support to displaced people only through the directors of their local councils.

In telling his story to the Syrian Observatory, a displaced person from Saraqeb confirmed that he did not receive relief aid months after his displacement, despite repeated demands to the city council.

He adds that “the aid goes to relatives of local council members, while the surplus aid is being sold and shared with the organizations’ officials and the “Salvation Government”.

Meanwhile, a local council suspended support for a camp inhabited by displaced people from Ma’rat al-Numan because the camp manager refused to give the council’s administration a number of relief baskets that they agreed to before they provided him with support. 

According to Syrian Observatory sources, some aid officials agree with camp managers on a percentage of the support provided, in return for registering the names of displaced people in the camp and giving them the aid provided by humanitarian organizations, not to mention the fake names that are registered on the lists in order to take the allocation of aids of these fake names.

These acts are the result of corruption among the aid organizations’ officials and the “Salvation Government”, where collecting money and increasing influence are their first goals, while people live in harsh humanitarian conditions.