Iraqi refugees in Jordan- part one

I am currently in Amman, Jordan to monitor mission projects assisting Iraqi refugees in the area. This time and the next, I would like to take this opportunity to explain how Japan Platform has been operating for Iraqi refugees. (Actually, Jordan is not a part of the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. However, I would like to use the word "refugee" in this blog to refer to Iraqi people who were displaced and sent to Jordan.)


One of the uniquenesses of Iraqi refugees is that most of them are in cities, hiding themselves without formulating refugee camps. Therefore, I cannot readily distinguish Iraqi refugees from other Arabic-speaking people. They are staying in apartments and using their savings to survive because they are not allowed to work in Jordan, with a few exceptions. Some refugees sold their houses in Iraq and came to Jordan, some of them experiencing kidnapping or death threats to ions or political preferenses. They do not have places to go back to in Iraq, and therefore request resettlement in other countries. In Jordan, we estimate that there around 450,000 ~550,000 Iraqi refugees. Iraqi refugees use social infrastructures, such as electricity and water, and it is a heavy burden on the Jordanian government.


Here in Jordan, I have had several meetings with government officials, UN agencies, and other Humanitarian aid organizations to learn current trends of supporting Iraqi refugees, as well as coordinate our activities with them. In those meeting, I heard several key words of assisting Iraqi refugees, such as "Outreach" and "Blanket Assistance". We have had difficulties to "reach out" to Iraqi refugees, fearing deportation for providing necessary assistance; therefore, some aid agencies had been trying to provide their assistance for communities where Iraqi refugees are hiding - like "blankets" covering "areas in a logical fashion". Recently, aid agencies are changing their strategies and trying to focus more on care for individuals, including enforecing their protection and shifting their methods of assistance from quantity to quality of assistance.


Japan Platform has been supporting 3 Japanese NGOs in Jordan (NICCO, Children without borders, and Save the Children Japan) which have been working for Iraqi refugees in Jordan since last year. They have been mainly implementing psycho social care and education projects, in addition to obtaing a good reputation among Humanitarian aid communities in Jordan and Iraqi refugees. ( to be continued)






▼▽▼▼椎名さんの過去の記事を読む━━━━━━━━━━━
・【High motivation is a key of success?!】2008.10.20 (Mon)

ブログランキングに参加しています。
下記の3つをクリックして、応援していただけると嬉しいです。
▼Please help us increase our blog ranking by clicking below!▼

We thank you for your continued support!