Highlights
The Jordan Operation submitted 12,356 individuals for fast-tracked resettlement to the U.S. at the end of March (surpassing the target figure of 9,000) to form part of U.S. plans to resettle at least 10,000 Syrian refugees, the vast majority living in Jordan, by the end of September 2016. UNHCR in Jordan has adopted new identification and screening-in procedures to meet the welcome increased demand of countries like the U.S. to expeditiously resettle thousands of Syrian refugees as part of their commitment to international solidarity, cooperation and responsibility-sharing with refugee-hosting countries like Jordan.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon travelled to Zaatari refugee camp on 27 March - his second visit since it opened in 2012 - where he noted the camp’s improved infrastructure but also the absent hope of return for its 80,000 Syrian inhabitants. The Secretary-General was accompanied by the President of the World Bank Group Jim Yong Kim who used his visit to Jordan to announce US $100 million in support of job creation for Syrian refugees and their Jordanian hosts.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi expressed concern in late March that more than half of the $12 billion in support pledged at the London Syria Donors Conference in February had yet to be disbursed. The funds would represent critical development and humanitarian support to Jordan where the majority of refugees are destitute and the host infrastructure strained after years of support provided to Syrians seeking international protection.
Key Figures
1 UNHCR in Jordan was the largest operation globally for submissions to resettlement and similar humanitarian admission programmes in 2015
75 Percentage of Syrians who are highly or severely shelter vulnerable
80 Percentage of Syrians using crisis or emergency coping mechanisms
90 Percentage of Syrians living outside of camps in poverty
115,000 Syrian school-aged children out of school, with many compelled to work informally in dangerous conditions
US $ 27 million Provided so far in 2016 in cash assistance to Jordan’s most vulnerable refugees
Funding
US $ 320 million requested for the Jordan Operation in 2016
Funded 13%
87% gap
Update on Achievements
Operational Context
Two significant developments in March look set to positively impact on the long-term strategy of shifting the paradigm from aid dependence to economic self-reliance for Jordan’s Syrian refugees, as recently outlined in a joint UNHCR/World Bank Group report and the Government of Jordan’s Jordan Compact. The first is the announcement by the Ministry of Labour (MoL) to allow Syrians to use a valid form of Ministry of Interior-issued identification and their UNHCR registration document instead of a passport. This is important given that the vast majority of Syrian refugees reside in Jordan without their passports, required documentation to access legal employment. Workplaces employing Syrians informally are to be given a three-month grace period, starting in April, to regularize their employees’ work status.
The second notable development is progress on a pilot project undertaken by UNHCR in partnership with the International Labour Organization and Better Work Jordan to provide work permits for Syrian refugees in Jordan’s garment sector. To date, six factories in Jordan have approached UNHCR for assistance in providing Syrian refugee women and men with employment at different stages of the garment production process. The participating companies all feature in the government’s “Golden List” of workplaces with a proven track record of adhering strictly to labour standards as set out in the Jordanian Labour Code. The pilot is progressing in close consultation with the Government of Jordan, precluding competition for jobs with Jordanian workers, and focusing on an area of the labour market where demand for workers outstrips supply.
Estimates suggest that the number of Syrians gathered at two points on the northeast border has risen to 57,000 (50,000 at Rukban and 7,000 at Hadalat), with a concurrent increase in the numbers being granted access into Jordanian territory by the authorities for further screening. To accommodate the increase in arrivals, part of Azraq Camp has been secured for asylum seekers arriving from the Raba'a al-Sarhan reception facility for enhanced screening. UNHCR is working closely with the authorities to ensure that those awaiting screening are provided with access to health services, education and other essential protection requirements.
On 30 March in Geneva, UNHCR convened an international meeting focusing on resettlement and other forms of humanitarian admission for 10 per cent of the 4.8 million Syrian refugees in countries neighbouring Syria. UNHCR estimates that at least this number will require resettlement or other forms of humanitarian help to move to safety over the next three years. The meeting ended with States pledging modest increases in the number of resettlement and humanitarian admission places, as well as important financial commitments in support of UNHCR’s resettlement programme from two countries. UNHCR in Jordan has since the end of 2015 facilitated two of the most generous resettlement and humanitarian admission responses yet seen with over 11,000 individuals submitted to the Canadian Humanitarian Transfer Programme by the end of December 2015, and another 12,000 to form part of the U.S. “surge” programme by the end of March 2016.