WFP announces aid cuts to Syrian refugee families

AMMAN — As Jordan grapples with the increasing pressures associated with hosting and providing essential services to refugees, international organisations such as the UNHCR and the World Food Programme (WFP) have announced a reduction in their assistance to refugees and host countries. 

The WFP on Tuesday declared a one-third reduction in monthly aid to vulnerable families living outside the refugee camps, effective from July.

The programme also plans to halt aid to hundreds of thousands of refugees by September, which will exacerbate their suffering and impose additional burdens on host countries, particularly Jordan as the largest host of Syrian refugees, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

Jordan hosts over 1.3 million Syrians, with only 10 per cent residing in camps. Despite economic challenges heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukrainian crisis, Jordan continues to provide basic services to Syrian refugees, even though it surpasses the Kingdom’s capacity to accommodate refugees on Jordanian territory. 

More than 150,000 Syrian students are enrolled in Jordan's formal education system, which led over 200 schools to operate on a double-shift basis. Syrians have equal access to healthcare services as Jordanians, and over 320,000 Syrians used the Jordanian healthcare system in the past year.

Despite a national unemployment rate of approximately 24 per cent, Jordan has granted over 370,000 work permits to Syrians, and a similar number is employed without permits.

Since the crisis began, more than 200,000 Syrian children have been born in Jordan, and the fertility rate among Syrians stands at 4.7 per cent, double that of Jordanians 2.6 per cent.

Fewer than 50,000 Syrians have voluntarily returned to their country in recent years.