DUBAI: Jordan has urged the international community to provide more aid to help with the country’s growing number of refugees, the Petra news agency reported on Tuesday.
Jordan has over 1.35 million refugees, with 233,000 Syrian children born since 2011, making it the world’s largest refugee-hosting country relative to its population, said Interior Minister Mazen Farrayeh.
Speaking during a one-day forum in Amman titled “Embracing Modernization: Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation in Border Management and Control,” the minister said the government prioritizes the needs of its citizens.
He said Jordan was not the home of the refugees and that the amount of aid provided to support them “did not meet the required level.”
Farrayeh said the influx of refugees had placed considerable financial strain on the government.
He said there was less funding from the international community, which included only 5.8 percent of the support needed to assist refugees from Syria.
Farrayeh added that a recent study by the UNHCR and the World Bank revealed rising levels of poverty, unemployment and child labor in refugee camps inside the country and elsewhere.
This situation could only be remedied with further financial aid to Jordan, the minister said.
Farrayeh added that Jordan’s stability and strategic location at the crossroads of three continents made it an attractive destination for foreign workers.
However, this was creating further pressure on the government, he said.
