UN agencies agree supporting Jordan vital

AMMAN — After a field visit to the Kingdom, executive boards of UN agencies reiterate the need to sustain supporting Jordan in bearing the burden of hosting Syrian refugees.

In the week-long joint field visit that concluded on Thursday, executive board members of the UNDP, UNFPA, UNOPS, UNICEF, UN Women and WFP visited projects being implemented by the agencies in refugee camps and host communities evaluate the provided services, according to the visit's team leader Fernando Carrera.

“This visit provided an excellent opportunity for member states to see firsthand the pressing humanitarian and development challenges facing Jordan,” he said in a meeting with the press on Thursday.

He added that Jordan’s stability and security are vital for the region and its government requires continued support from the international community.

"The UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNOPS, UN Women and WFP will continue to assist the government of Jordan in its efforts to achieve sustainable development and respond to the humanitarian crisis, through a resilience-based approach.”

The visit is not aimed as oversight over the government or the people of Jordan, according to Carrera, who is also the permanent representative of Guatemala at the UN. "The boards play an oversight role over UN agencies... on behalf of the international community."

The conclusions of the visiting delegation, which will be reported to the administration of UN agencies, “will steer future priorities and interventions of UN in Jordan”, the official noted.

Moreover, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Jordan Edward Kallon said the UN teams in Jordan are taking "significant steps" towards enhancing coherence, to improve coordination between humanitarian, resilience and longer-term development programming.

However, mobilising sufficient resources to meet the needs of refugees and host communities, as well as longer-term developmental issues, remain a key challenge.  

“Refugee needs have impacted heavily on Jordan… Jordanians in refugee-impacted areas are experiencing increased vulnerability,” he said, noting that Jordan’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate declined from 8 per cent in 2005 to 3 per cent in 2014.

Speaking at the event, Planning Minister Imad Fakhoury noted that Syrians form up to 20 per cent of the Kingdom’s population, with 85 per cent of them living outside refugee camps.

He added that Jordan hosts the second highest number of refugees per capita, a matter that urged the government to transform its efforts in dealing with the Syrian refugees through a resilience plan that addresses the humanitarian needs of both refugees and the host communities.

“We will not allow any threats to Jordan’s development gains or its security,” he said, calling on the international community to increase its allocations to supporting Jordan, which so far cover only 7.2 per cent of the $2.9 billion estimated in the Jordan Response Plan 2015 (JRP).

From his side, Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications Mohammad Momani said Jordan’s economic, social and security indices have been “sharply” affected by the Syrian crisis, citing a major pressure on the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army in securing the 378-kilometre-long border with Syria.

He added that police stations now deal with a larger population, also citing some 120,000 Syrian students enrolled in private and public schools

He reiterated Jordan’s support for a political solution to the crisis in Syria, underscoring that lack of such a solution will add to the instability and terrorism in the region. 

The JRP is a one-year programme to consolidate all major national and international efforts to address the humanitarian and developmental impacts of the Syrian crisis within a nationally led and owned process in partnership with the UN and the international community. 

Jordan hosts some 1.4 million Syrians, including some 630,000 registered refugees, with an estimated cost reaching $2.09 billion in 2015.