Jordan: EU provides new support to deal with Syrian refugee crisis

European Commission

Press release

Brussels/Amman, 3 June 2013

Jordan: EU provides new support to deal with Syrian refugee crisis

The European Commission will provide additional assistance of €50 million to Jordan to alleviate the impact of the high influx of refugees from Syria, Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, Štefan Füle, announced today during his visit to Amman.

“Jordan is playing a vital role in providing support and hospitality to the Syrian refugees in their time of need. We realise the burden this creates on Jordan's resources and the resulting enormous strain the country is put under. The EU remains deeply committed to assisting the Jordanian Government in its response to the refugee crisis,” Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, Štefan Füle, said after informing King Abdullah II about this new financial allocation.

The additional assistance will focus on strengthening Jordanian institutions, in particular in the areas of education services for Syrian refugees. €25 million from the announced additional support will be mobilised very quickly and will help Jordanian authorities in educating Syrian refugee children in Jordan. Out of this support €5 million will be allocated to UNICEF to continue the education of Syrian refugee children in the Jordanian refugee camps. A further amount of €25 million will be made available in the coming months and will mainly support the Jordanian government in providing health services to refugees.

Today´s announcement of an additional €50 million constitutes a significant increase and brings the total amount of financial assistance provided by the European Commission to Jordan in relation to the Syrian crisis to €137 million since its outbreak.

Background

Jordan (together with Lebanon) has so far taken the lion's share of Syrian refugees, whose daily outflow has accelerated over recent months and still continues to grow on a daily basis. By the end of May 2013, the country hosted more than 489,000 registered refugees, which represents about 8% of Jordan's population. The government of Jordan has indicated that it is expecting as many as 1 million refugees to be in Jordan by the end of 2013. Both Jordan and Lebanon face significant economic and political challenges connected to this influx of refugees from Syria.

Out of the €50 million announced today to help Jordan to cope with the refugee crisis, the first tranche of €25 million will compensate for the cost of accommodating Syrian refugee children in schools. This is an area where the resources of the Jordanian authorities are under severe pressure due to the number of Syrian refugee children being accommodated in Jordanian government schools. Out of this first tranche, the 5€ mil allocation to UNICEF for continued support to education of Syrian refugee children in the camps will allow the continuation of the successful programme started in 2012.

Later in 2013, a second tranche of €25 million will be made available and mainly support the Jordanian government in covering the provision of health services to refugees. This would complement EU humanitarian actions, providing emergency medical services to refugees in camps. Moreover actions funded under this second tranche may also include further support to UNICEF for responding to education, psycho-social and development needs in refugee camps. Also the economic development of the northern areas of Jordan, where the local population is particularly affected by the presence of refugees, is likely to be supported.

All of this additional assistance will be implemented in complementarity and close coordination with EU humanitarian assistance - linking relief, rehabilitation and development.

The EU, with Member States, is the biggest donor of assistance to the population affected by the Syrian crisis, both in Syria and neighbouring countries.

The European Commission is already spending €265 million in humanitarian assistance for Syria and neighbouring countries. The current breakdown of EU humanitarian funding is 49% inside Syria with the rest distributed between Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq.

A further €193 million has also been provided through other EU instruments, in response to the Syria crisis (in areas including education, support to host communities and local societies). The EU Member States also mobilised substantial humanitarian funding of €361 million, which will increase once the funding pledged at the Kuwait conference is fully committed