Jordan has far exceeded its capabilities by hosting refugees on its land, said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Safadi on Thursday in a speech he delivered at the seventh Brussels Conference on “Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region.” “International support for refugees is dwindling at dangerous rates. This year, international funding for our response plan stands at a mere 6.8 percent. Last year it stood at 33 percent, compared to almost 70 percent in 2016, you can see the trajectory,” he noted. “We are way above our capacity. We ring the alarm. We ring it loud. The collective responsibility towards refugees must be met. The ultimate answer to the refugees’ challenge is of course for them to voluntarily return to their country. Hence is the urgency of addressing and accelerating efforts, based on realistic assumptions, to solve the Syrian crisis,” the minister stressed. Highlighting figures and statistics on Syrian refugees in the Kingdom, Safadi said: “Jordan hosts more than 1.3 million Syrians. Only 10 percent of them live in camps, and despite economic pressures that were compounded due to the Covid Pandemic and the Ukrainian crisis, we have continued to afford Syrian refugees key services we provide Jordanians.” Additionally, over 150,000 Syrian students are enrolled in our official educational system. As a result, over 200 schools in Jordan now operate on two-shift basis, he indicated, stating that Syrians also have the same access Jordanians do to health services. Last year alone, over 320,000 Syrians accessed the Kingdom’s health system. Despite an average unemployment of around 24 percent, Jordan has given over 370,000 work permits to Syrian. Meanwhile, double that number works without permits, he pointed out. “Over 200,000 Syrian kids were born in Jordan since the crisis erupted. Fertility rate among Syrians stands at 4.7 percent, almost double that of Jordan’s 2.6. Meanwhile, less than 50,000 Syrians have returned to Syria in the past few year,” the minister said. Addressing the international community, Safadi called for setting up a global fund to support the voluntary and safe return of Syrians and enabling a physical environment that can ensure key services to refugees in their country. He stated that “political stands must reflect reality, whether under early recovery or stabilization mechanism, or any other mechanism, basic services must be provided so refugees can return. It is in Syria, and not in host countries that the future of refugees lies. We must build for that future now.” The minister pointed out that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Food Program (WFP), which have been crucial partners in Jordan’s efforts to meet refugees’ needs, are continuously reducing their operations. Hundreds of thousands of refugees who have been receiving small from the program (under 30 dollars a month) will no longer be able to count that come September because the WFP does not have the funds, and, unless no funds are available by then, those people will suffer more than they’re already suffering. “Investing in refugees is investing in our collective security,” said Safadi, adding that: “Abandoning refugees to need and despair will not bode well for all of us. Walls will not stop migration to Europe. The less services we are able to provide; the more inclined refugees will be to seek better lives elsewhere.” According to UN statistics, last year, there was an increase in Syrians who left Jordan for Europe through third countries. “Everybody must do their part. There is a limit to what we can do, and there is a limit to what should be expected from us to do,” he underscored. On threats that came as a result of the Syrian crisis, the minister said: “In Jordan, we have 378 kilometers of border with Syria. In the past the biggest threat was terrorism. Now the threat is drug trafficking. Chaos, lawlessness, deteriorating economic conditions are allowing for the drug industry to thrive and for that threat to mount.” Concluding his speech, the minister said: “As the Amman declaration, which came after the Jeddah meeting, said very clearly what we seek is a step-for-step approach to solve the crisis consistent with resolution 2254. So what we want is a real effort to end this crisis. When it comes to refugees we’re fully committed to the concept of voluntary return, but we have to be active in creating conditions that are conducive for this return. That means again trying to fix the crisis but also making sure that we enable a physical environment conducive for them to return.”
Source: Jordan News Agency