Jordan

Jordan hosted over 633,000 Syrian refugees in 2015, although authorities tightened entry restrictions and held thousands of Syrians in remote border areas with limited access to humanitarian aid. In November, Jordan deported at least 500 Sudanese asylum-seekers and refugees, most from Darfur, back to Sudan. The government curtailed freedom of expression, detaining and bringing charges against activists, dissidents, and journalists, sometimes under broad and vague provisions of the country’s counterterrorism law. Authorities have not released public information on trials of police officers for deaths in detention. The country’s broad anti-terrorism law threatens freedom of expression, and other laws criminalize speech deemed critical of the king, government and Islam. Jordan discriminates against women by not allowing them to pass Jordanian citizenship to their children.