Jordan: The treatment of failed refugee claimants who are returned to Jordan, persons who have exited the country illegally or persons whose permission to leave has expired; whether there is a distinction made between citizens of Jordan, stateless Palestinians from the Occupied Territories, and stateless Palestinians who reside in Jordan under United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) registration
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa |
| Publication Date | 5 August 2008 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | JOR102879.E |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Jordan: The treatment of failed refugee claimants who are returned to Jordan, persons who have exited the country illegally or persons whose permission to leave has expired; whether there is a distinction made between citizens of Jordan, stateless Palestinians from the Occupied Territories, and stateless Palestinians who reside in Jordan under United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) registration, 5 August 2008, JOR102879.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/48d2237640.html [accessed 13 October 2022] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Information on the treatment of failed refugee claimants who are returned to Jordan and persons who have exited the country illegally could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.
Information on the treatment of persons whose permission to leave has expired was scarce among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate. However, a research associate at the Institut français du Proche-Orient (IFPO), a Damascus-based French government research institute with expertise in the Middle East (IFPO 5 Apr. 2006), stated that individuals from the West Bank who overstay their residency in Jordan are required to pay a penalty for each day of illegal residency when exiting Jordan (Research Associate 1 July 2008). With this payment, these individuals are permitted to enter the West Bank and return to Jordan at a later date as long as they arrange for a guarantor and a sum of money to guarantee their exit from Jordan after a specified period of time (ibid.).
With respect to distinctions made between citizens of Jordan, stateless Palestinians from the Occupied Territories and stateless Palestinians who reside in Jordan under United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) registration, the Research Associate stated that there is a distinction made between Jordanian citizens and those individuals who hold temporary passports or travel documents (1 July 2008). The Research Associate stated that Jordanian citizens have full mobility rights while individuals who hold temporary passports and travel documents are only allowed to remain in Jordan for specific durations such as one month (ibid.). Examples of individuals with temporary passports and travel documents are holders of a green card (West Bankers) and individuals who are from Gaza and require a permit from a guarantor to enter Jordan (Research Associate 1 July 2008).
According to the United States (US) Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2007, there are three groups of Palestinians in Jordan:
Those that migrated to the country and the Jordan-controlled West Bank after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war were given full citizenship. Those still residing in the West Bank after 1967 were no longer eligible to claim citizenship but were allowed to obtain temporary passports without national numbers, provided they did not also carry a Palestinian Authority travel document. In 1995, King Hussein announced that West Bank residents without other travel documentation would be eligible to receive full-validity passports, although still without national numbers. Refugees who fled Gaza after 1967 were not entitled to citizenship and were issued temporary passports without national numbers. (US 11 Mar. 2008, Sec. 2d)
A February 2004 report on the website of Forced Migration Online contained the following information on categories of people, residency and documentation in Jordan:
– Jordanian-East Bankers and Jordanian-Palestinians of 1948 have permanent residency in Jordan and five-year passports with national numbers.
– Jordanian-Palestinians of 1967 who have permanent residency in Jordan, have five-year passports with national numbers, and yellow cards which entitle the bearer to travel to the West Bank for family reunification purposes [see also Jordan Times 11 Oct. 2006].
– Jordanian-Palestinians of 1967 who have permanent residency in the West Bank, have five-year passports without national numbers, and green cards which indicate that the bearer lives in the West Bank and is visiting Jordan temporarily for a particular reason such as work or education [see also Jordan Times 11 Oct. 2006].
– Jordanian-Palestinians from Jerusalem have permanent residency in Jerusalem, five-year passports without national numbers and green cards, which indicate that the bearer lives in the West Bank and is visiting Jordan temporarily for a particular reason such as work or education [see also Jordan Times 11 Oct. 2006].
– Palestinians of Gaza have permanent residency in Jordan, two-year temporary passports [see also USCRI 2008] and blue cards which indicate that they are permitted to live in Jordan for the purpose of family reunification.
– Palestinians of the West Bank or Gaza Strip have permanent residency in the West Bank or Gaza Strip, a Palestinian authority passport and permission to enter Jordan. (Forced Migration Online Feb. 2004, Sec. 3.2)
The Forced Migration Online report stated that Palestinian refugees who fall under UNRWA's mandate are entitled to basic education, health care, relief and social services (Feb. 2004, Sec. 3.3). Palestinian refugees are defined as
persons whose normal residence was Palestine during the period between 1 June 1946 and 15 May 1948, who lost both their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict, and who took refuge in one of the countries or areas where UNRWA provides relief – as well as their direct descendants through the male line. (ibid.; UN n.d.a)
UNRWA provides the following information:
All Palestine refugees in Jordan have full Jordanian citizenship with the exception of about 120,000 refugees originally from the Gaza Strip, which up to 1967 was administered by Egypt. They are eligible for temporary Jordanian passports, which do not entitle them to full citizenship rights such as the right to vote and employment with the government. (UN n.d.b)
This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.
References
Forced Migration Online. February 2004. Oroub Al Abed. "Palestinian Refugees in Jordan."
Institut français du Proche-Orient (IFPO). 5 April 2006. "Présentation, charte et orientations scientifiques."
The Jordan Times. 11 October 2006. "Jordan Addresses Complaints on Prisons, Travel Rights of Palestinians." (Factiva/BBC Monitoring Middle East)
Research Associate, Institut français du Proche Orient (IFPO). 1 July 2008. Correspondence with the Research Directorate.
United Nations (UN). N.d.a. United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). "Who Is a Palestine Refugee?"
_____. N.d.b. "Jordan Refugee Camp Profiles."
United States (US). 11 March 2008. Department of State. "Jordan." Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2007.
U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI). 2008. "Jordan." World Refugee Survey 2008.
Additional Sources Consulted
Oral sources: Attempts to contact an official at the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group (PHRMG) were unsuccessful. The Embassy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Ottawa was unable to provide information within the time constraints of this Response.
Internet sites, including: Alternative Information Center (AIC), Amnesty International (AI), BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), European Country of Origin Information Network (ecoi.net), Freedom House, Human Rights Watch (HRW), Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), International Crisis Group, La fédération internationale des ligues des droits de l'homme (FIDH), Middle East Institute (MEI), Middle East Policy Council (MEPC), Middle East Studies Association, National Centre for Human Rights (NCHR), SHAML Palestinian Diaspora and Refugee Centre, The Jordan Times [Amman], The Star [Amman].
