Jordan

Working environment

The number of Iraqi, Somali, Sudanese and Yemeni people of concern being registered with UNHCR in Jordan continues to grow. The protection space continues to shrink, with access to territory being severely restricted, illustrated by the growing number of Syrians at the Berm between Jordan and Syria, and humanitarian assistance increasingly limited, particularly in the health and food security sectors. The Government of Jordan has, however, made significant progress in enhancing access to documentation, reduction of risk of statelessness (i.e. some 70,000 Syrian children obtained birth registration since the beginning of the crisis) as well as ensuring access to education for all refugee children as well as employment rights and work permits for Syrian refugees.

As Jordan is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, cooperation between UNHCR and the Government of Jordan is framed by a Memorandum of Understanding. The 2016-2018 Jordan Response Plan, which represents the national chapter of the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan, focuses on both refugee response and resilience and development programming, with UNHCR leading the refugee response component. 

Key priorities

UNHCR will continue to advocate for access to territory, the right to seek asylum, the principle of non-refoulement, family unity, and access to livelihood opportunities.  UNHCR will also support the Government in ensuring protection in accordance with international refugee protection principles. Inter-agency coordination will remain at the core of the refugee response with an already well developed network of working groups and thematic task forces. Among them, the refugee response established innovative coordination fora  regarded as a good practice in the region and at global level and that are being replicated in other locations (i.e. Task Force on Tertiary Education, Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and so on). 

In the event of funding shortfalls, 7,200 families will not be assisted through cash-based interventions. Health care and winterization assistance will also be affected. If funding for non-Syrian refugees is limited in 2017, UNHCR will focus its interventions on building and strengthening community-based protection mechanisms for a sustainable response.