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Ammon News - The international community's response rate to Jordan's needs for the Syrian crisis for 2021 were under 4 percent of the amount needed, said Mazen Faraya, Minister of Interior on Sunday.

During a visit to the Syrian Refugee Affairs Directorate, on World Refugee Day, Faraya stated such figures require a regional and international effort to ensure that the countries of the world and donors are encouraged and urged to abide by their duties, and provide the requirements for the residency of Syrian refugees so that Jordan can fully perform its humanitarian duties towards refugees.

Jordan, he pointed out, deals with refugees based on the well-established national principles on which the Kingdom was founded, as well as its humanitarian role in this area, indicating that the number of refugees in the Kingdom exceeds 3.5 million people, constituting more 35 percent of the population. He said that the number of Syrian refugees in the Kingdom is about 1.36 million, of whom 667,000 are registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, underlining that Jordan is tops the list of countries hosting refugees in comparison to its population.

As some United Nations agencies and the World Food Program have reached a point of 'exhaustion,' Faraya indicated that this requires sounding the alarm and warning of the possibility of serious repercussions, which means that many people will lose shelter and will be unable to provide the basics such as food and clothing.

Voluntary return is the best solution to all refugee crises, he noted, adding that the number of refugees who returned since the reopening of the borders in October 2018, did not exceed 50,000 people, which calls for coming up with a comprehensive international plan aimed at providing the requirements for the return of Syrian refugees to their country.

The minister said that Jordan continues to provide all the services that refugees need, stressing that the Kingdom is the first country in the region to provide an equitable rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine for Jordanians and non-Jordanians. So far, 20,000 refugees have received the jab, he indicated.

Faraya commended the efforts exerted by the directorate’s cadres and their commitment to deliver and provide all the services that refugee needs in various fields.