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Ammon News - Al-shorfa- Since the outbreak of the Syrian crisis nearly three years ago, Jordan has provided integrated services to tens of thousands of Syrian refugees residing on its territory, from security and healthcare to educational services and direct economic assistance.

The Jordanian government has continued to provide all forms of support within available resources to the Syrian refugees, said Minister of Planning and International Co-operation Ibrahim Saif at the 2nd International Humanitarian Pledging Conference for Syria, held in January in Kuwait.

Jordan has also intensified communication with concerned international organisations and the international community so as to offer the necessary material and relief support, he added.

UN records that around 600,000 Syrian refugees have entered Jordan since the start of the war in March 2011 they now make up around 10% of the total population in Jordan, Saif said.

Roughly 80% of those refugees live in cities and villages, while the rest reside in refugee camps such as Zaatari camp in al-Mafraq province on Jordan's northern border with Syria.

The kingdom needs around $1.6 billion to adequately support Syrian refugees in the country, according the UN High Commissioner for Refugees' (UNHCR) 2014 Regional Response Plan, released on the side-lines of the Kuwait conference.

'HUMANITARIAN DUTY'

"The kingdom provides a wide range of security services to the Syrian refugees," said Linda Maaia, a Jordanian journalist specialising in security affairs.

Jordan issues security cards to all refugees to facilitate their access to basic and public services. They, like all Jordanians, also have access to litigation and complaints services and are subject to Jordanian laws, she said.

In mid-January 2014, the government established the Syrian Refugee Camp Administration, which works to co-ordinate operations in the camps and provide services to the refugees.

"The camps host only a small number of refugees, the rest of whom are concentrated in Jordanian cities," Maaia said. "The latest official data put the number of refugees in the Zaatari camp, which opened 20 months ago, at about 115,000."

Security forces protect all refugees, especially those in camps, she said. In the Zaatari camp, the UN and the Jordanian general security and civil defence work at a joint operations room to ensure security.

"Surveillance cameras also were deployed throughout the camp to [assist with] security, and the camp was equipped with three entrance gates, which began in February to use a fingerprint system for the entry and exit of Syrians," Maiaa said.

Over the past year, security authorities in co-operation with the UN also began using a retina scan system in the refugee reception area to regulate the number of residents at the camp.

"The ongoing intense efforts by Jordanian authorities have helped establish security," Maaia said, recalling the five-year prison sentence the State Security Court handed down in December 2013 to a man named Mustafa Khater, a Jordan resident who had infiltrated Syria and fought in the ranks of al Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra.

After his time in Syria, Khater returned to Jordan with a Syrian identification card and entered Zaatari camp as a refugee in June 2013. Later, security agencies uncovered his ruse and he was referred to the court.

"The burden of the Syrian refugees weighs heavily on Jordan, but the kingdom has been able to efficiently and effectively provide security services which both protect Jordan and those residing in it, in line with fulfilling its humanitarian duty," Maiaa said.

Efforts are on-going to maintain security, protect the borders and arrest infiltrators, she said.

INTEGRATED SYSTEM OF SERVICES

In addition to security services, the government is providing refugees with health services, including advanced surgical procedures, vaccinations and primary health care free of charge, said Ziad Hamad, head of al-Kitab wal Sunna charity.

And, "in addition to government efforts, Jordanian charities are making concerted efforts to provide everything from money for rent to orphan care services", Hamad said.

"Jordan opened the doors of its public schools to provide education for refugee children, filling the classrooms [beyond] capacity and prompting some schools to work double shifts, on top of [providing] basic services such as roads, water, sanitation and cleaning services, which weighs heavily on municipalities and public facilities in areas where refugees are concentrated such as al-Mafraq, Irbid and al-Zarqa," he added.

Jordan also has made some commodities, such as fuel, available at subsidised prices, said journalist Sami Mahasneh.

He said Jordan is shouldering a heavy administrative and logistical burden in caring for the refugees.

"An example is the surge in residential rents, which is responsible for a significant portion of the domestic inflation rate," he said.

Syrian refugee Shadi, who has lived in al-Mafraq for about a year and a half, praised the basic services available to refugees, in particular the free primary health care and treatment.

"All services are available to the refugees, and in an integrated form," he told Al-Shorfa. "The things that humanitarian organisations cannot provide are provided by the Jordanian government, key among them education for school-age students."