Jordan cares for refugees despite dearth of int’l funding — interior minister

AMMAN — Jordan, upon Royal directives, addresses the issue of refugees from a humanitarian perspective and provides all services to them despite limited resources, Interior Minister Mazen Faraya said on Tuesday.

Faraya’s remarks came during his participation at the EUROMED Migration V (EMM5) conference at the Dead Sea, organised by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) in cooperation with the Ministry of the Interior, under the theme “Capacity Partnerships: Responding to refugees needs through developing opportunities for host countries”.

The interior minister noted that the Kingdom bears “a huge burden” from hosting refugees especially with weak international funding for the Jordanian Response Plan to the Syrian Crisis (JRP), as the funding did not exceed 10 per cent of required amounts last year, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

He pointed out that choosing Jordan as a venue of the conference, the first since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, is a recognition of the Kingdom as the largest host country of refugees in terms of proportion to the population.

Faraya noted that the three-day conference coincides with World Refugee Day, which was designated by the UN to honour refugees around the world and highlight the strength and courage of people who were forced to flee conflicts or persecution in their countries.

He added that the event is also an occasion to rally sympathy for and understanding of refugees’ plight and recognition of their determination to rebuild their lives.

The conference will be discussing strategies and provide high-level guidance on key migration issues in the Euro-Mediterranean region to enhance regional cooperation and dialogue, as it aims to review the humanitarian, social and economic challenges facing countries hosting a large number of refugees on their soil.