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On Thursday, the United Nations said that it does not expect a let-up in the number of Syrian refugees fleeing to neighboring Jordan and asked for funds to help Jordan cope with the influx.
According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the number of Syrian refugees in Jordan is expected to increase by up to 33% and reach 800,000 by year’s end. It also said that Jordan will need $2.6 billion to take care of the refugees.
“We expect that the number of (Syrian) refugees will continue to increase to some 700,000-800,000 by the end of this year.There is a regional response plan and national response plan, in which many aspects are still being finalized… basically $1 billion for the refugees and $1.6 billion for supporting Jordan’s hosting community. We need generous and real support which is not measured in the short term… but which goes on for many years to come because the situation in Syria and Iraq is catastrophic”, Andrew Harper, representative of the UNHCR in Jordan, said.
The UNHCR has received $400 million in aid so far for the 600,000 Syrian refugees who are already in Jordan. The Syrian civil war has caused the largest refugee crisis since 1994’s Rwandan Genocide, with half of the population fleeing their homes, and almost three million seeking shelter in neighboring countries.
In December, the UN had appealed for $6.5 billion in aid for victims of the Syrian civil war, and $2.3 billion had been pledged in January at a Kuwaiti donors’ conference. However, the UN has said that only 25% of its plan for 2014 has been funded.
“We are underfunded and we are afraid that… the quality of services we are providing for both Jordanian citizens and Syrian refugees… are witnessing deterioration actually.If the international community wants Jordan to continue its current policies to help the refugees, it needs to provide aid to the kingdom”, Jordan’s Planning Minister Ibrahim Saif said, in a joint news conference with Harper.