UNGA chief warns of ‘donor fatigue’ as refugees in Jordan continue to suffer

AMMAN  — The UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Wednesday urged continued support to Jordan to enable provision of services to Syrian refugees, warning of the repercussions of donor fatigue “when hundreds of thousands of people are suffering”.

“The problem of Syrian refugees in Jordan has bigger dimensions, especially that many are outside camps,” President of the UNGA María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés said in an interview with The Jordan Times on Wednesday.

“There cannot be donor fatigue when you have hundreds of thousands of people that are suffering; they need to have continued access to fundamentals. This is not too much to ask… As long as the conflict is not solved there has to be greater burden sharing and greater cooperation in sharing responsibility,” Espinosa said.

“What we saw of the generosity and commitment of the Jordanian government — Jordanians should be proud of their generosity and that they set an important model,” she said.

The UN official said response to the refugee crisis requires a strong multilateral system.

“There is a need for more international solidarity,” she said, adding that Syrian refugees’ decision to leave their country was one made under urgent and dangerous conditions. “They are not migrating by choice. They [left] because they could lose their lives.”

On lobbying support to UNRWA, she said: “UNRWA has been at the very centre of my commitment since my tenure.”

Espinosa noted that the UN was able to narrow the agency’s funding gap to $60 million this year.

The UN official, who commended Jordan’s role in supporting the agency and guaranteeing the rights of the Palestinian refugees, said that UNRWA has exerted efforts to become more efficient and cut unnecessary costs since its financial crisis began last year with the US aid cuts.

“We still have a small gap and I am sure that it will be solved… operation next year will be at a normal pace,” she added.

Regarding cooperation in counterterrorism efforts, the UN official said that Jordan plays a leading role in combating terror and extremism, referring as well to the Kingdom’s troop contributions to peacekeeping missions and commending its “active partnership” in that regard.

“Jordan is a living example of generosity and solidarity… the international community has a debt to Jordan, because of their open-arms policy and what it has done with refugees, not only with Syrian refugees, but others too,” Espinosa stressed.