Jordan covering 81% of refugee crisis cost — PM

AMMAN — Jordan’s commitment to its open-door policy for Syrians fleeing the violence in their country should be met with more international support to address the burden of hosting refugees, Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour said Thursday.

At a meeting with UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Jordan Edward Kallon Ensour said international support at present only covers 19 per cent of the cost of hosting Syrian refugees, with the Kingdom left to cover the remaining 81 per cent, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

For his part, Kallon said the UN is working with other concerned organisations to increase the international community’s assistance to Jordan to enable it to continue its humanitarian efforts in the service of the refugees.

Also on Thursday, an army source said border guards received 41 Syrian refugees during the past 72 hours, according to Petra. 

Border guards provided the new arrivals with humanitarian assistance and took them to official refugee camps.

The UNHCR says it needs nearly $404.4 million to deal with the Syrian crisis and provide humanitarian assistance for refugees in Jordan in 2015.

In December 2014, the government launched Jordan’s Response Plan of $2.87 billion that seeks to address the repercussions of the Syrian crisis for this year, which makes the needs of the country and
UNHCR Jordan over $3 billion.

Around 620,000 Syrians in Jordan are registered as refugees with the UNHCR, while some 640,000 Syrian refugees have been registered by the local authorities, according to figures cited by Brig. Gen. Waddah Hmoud, director of the Syrian Refugee Affairs Department, in December.

The figures recorded by authorities are more accurate, he said, as “we register those who enter and leave the country” for security reasons.

Only 98,000 of the registered refugees are staying in camps allocated for Syrian refugees, while the rest reside among host communities, according to Hmoud.

In addition to this figure, there are 750,000 Syrians living in the Kingdom who are not registered as refugees, which adds up to a total of 1.398 million Syrians in Jordan.