Jordan says Amnesty International report on refugees ‘inaccurate’

AMMAN — The government on Wednesday criticised as inaccurate and nonobjective a report by Amnesty International, in which the watchdog claimed that Syrian refugees in Jordan are denied access to critical health services.

“The report lacks accuracy and objectivity. It is clear that it relied on views of some biased activists and researchers who are supporting a certain stand,” Jordan’s Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications Mohammad Momani told The Jordan Times on Wednesday.

“Clearly, those who drafted the report have not visited our healthcare centres that are frequented by crowds of Syrians… Jordan is giving to the Syrians more than any country in the world has done, including medical care… This is a truth that is only denied by someone who is ungrateful,” said the minister.

In its report “Living on the margins: Syrian refugees struggle to access healthcare in Jordan”, Amnesty International claimed that the “combination of grossly inadequate support from the international community and barriers imposed by the government of Jordan are leaving Syrian refugees unable to access healthcare and other vital services”.

Citing three Syrian women who had recently given birth at an NGO hospital in Irbid, Amnesty International said they claimed that the women had delayed crucial antenatal check-ups because they could not afford public hospital fees and transport costs.

Amnesty International said it has gathered information from humanitarian workers and family members of Syrian refugees with critical injuries that were denied entry to Jordan for medical care, which it said suggested that the exceptional criteria for entry on emergency medical grounds is inconsistently applied.

In the report, Sherif Elsayed-Ali, Head of Refugee and Migrants’ Rights at Amnesty International, claimed that Jordan closed the borders in the face of Syrian refugees, saying: “Closing the border to those in need of asylum, whether or not they are injured, is a violation of Jordan’s international obligations”.

Officials in Jordan, which is home to around 1.3 million Syrian refugees, have repeatedly stressed that the borders will remain open for the influx of Syrians fleeing the violence in their country, seeking a safe haven in Jordan, but a vetting process will remain in place.

The Jordanian healthcare system has come under pressure in terms of finances and service capacity, a report by US-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in 2015, indicated.

Citing the Ministry of Health, the number of Syrian outpatient visits to primary care centres increased from 68 in January 2012 to 15,975 in March 2013. The number of Syrian refugee admissions to government hospitals also increased from 300 to 10,330 over that period. 

“As a result of capacity burdens, Jordanians have been increasingly directed to private centres and hospitals to receive care. Thus, for some citizens, the influx of Syrian refugees has rendered healthcare less accessible and more expensive,” the report by the US think tank indicated. 

Last week, Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour said the Syrian crisis has cost Jordan over $7 billion since 2011.