The suffering of day laborers in light of the total curfew in al-Jazıra region

Salman Al-Harbi
Hundreds of day laborers were affected and their daily work stopped as a result of the total ban imposed on al-Jazira region by the Autonomous Administration in north-east Syria, to limit the spread of the Corona virus.

Hussein Majed, a construction worker from the city of al-Hasaka, told ASO News Network, “Since the first day of the curfew, the construction workshop in which I work, which includes four other people, where we all live on daily work, stopped.”

Majed continued, “The amount I earn from my daily work is 5,000 SYP, which is equivalent to one and a half US dollars, which I divide between food and drink, and I pay half of the other rent for my house in which I live.”

He added, “Because of the curfew, I do not have a daily livelihood, and at the present time I resort to get debts from friends to cover my family’s necessary requirements until the end of the curfew period.”

The condition of Hussein Faisal, 21, from the district of al-Qahtaniyah/Tirpe Sipi, a university student, is not very different from that of Majed. He is also forced to work in a “sweets” shop in the city of Qamishlo/al-Qamishli to cover his study expenses and reduce part of the burden of his expenses on his elderly father.

“Faisal” tells ASO News Network, “My daily wage is 6000 SP and I work daily to finish my university studies.”
However, he added, “But the Corona pandemic and the curfew disrupted my work and my studies together, and I cannot secure the expenses incurred by me without working.”

Hussein called on the concerned authorities to compensate the category of daily workers whose work and livelihoods were suspended during the curfew period, or to impose a partial curfew so that the poor and the worker can live, as he described it.

The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria imposed a total curfew on Al-Jazira region last Saturday, as a result of the high number of infections with the Delta strain of Corona virus Covid 19 in the region.

*the photo is from network’s archives