The King of Jordan has warned his country is at 'boiling point' because of the number of Syrian refugees and told the West to help before the 'dam bursts'.
Jordan is hosting more than 600,000 of the 4.6million Syrians who have registered with the UN as refugees since the civil war broke out in the country five years ago.
But the Jordanian government says there are another one million unregistered Syrians living in the country, which has a population of 9.5million, and fear more will arrive due to the estimated 13.5million vulnerable and displaced people who remain in Syria.
Speaking ahead of a key conference on Syria being held in London this week, King Abdullah said the flood of refugees into his country had damaged its education and healthcare systems and urged Western leaders to recognise the huge strain the Syrian conflict is having on his citizens.
Al Zaatari, one of the biggest camps in Jordan near the city of Mafraq, currently hosts around 80,000 people - the same as Bath in the UK and Napa City in the U.S. - and pictures taken from a helicopter flying over the camp have emerged showing tents and other temporary homes stretching over miles of the Jordanian desert.
Jordan says a quarter of the government's budget is spent looking after refugees.
In an interview with the BBC, King Abdullah said: 'The psyche of the Jordanian people, I think it's gotten to boiling point.
'It hurt us when it comes to the educational system, our healthcare,' he added.
'Sooner or later, I think the dam is going to burst and I think this week is going to be very important for Jordanians to see, is there going to be help - not only for Syrian refugees, but for their own future as well.'
'They realise that if they don't help Jordan, it's going to be more difficult for them to deal with the refugee crisis.'
He added: 'The international community, we've always stood shoulder to shoulder by your side. We're now asking for your help, you can't say no this time.
To judge by the 3,000 refugee-operated shops and businesses within its perimeters there is no lack of entrepreneurial spirit in Zaatari.
They include a pizza delivery service, barbers, hairdressers, greengrocers, coffee shops and even a wedding boutique.
One road is named after the Champs-Elysees in Paris.
Around 15.5 tons of bread are distributed daily, according to figures released in December by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Three boreholes provide 3.4million litres of water a day, which is distributed via a network of 82 trucks. In the summer, temperatures can reach 50C in the shade.
King Abdullah rejected claims from the international community that his country had left 16,000 Syrian refugees stranded in a remote desert area near its northern border.
The United Nations has warned that children and vulnerable people are among those suffering from deteriorating conditions in the area.
But the King warned that there were 'elements' of ISIS among the group and said Jordanian authorities were deploying a 'strong vetting system' to ensure extremists are not admitted into refugee camps.
Around 50-100 refugees from the area are being admitted each day, he said.
He told his international critics: 'If you want to take the moral high ground on this issue, we'll get them all to an airbase and we're more than happy to relocate them to your country, if what you're saying is there's only 16,000.'
The Syrian donors' conference will start in London tomorrow and Downing Street has urged participating countries to double the amount of money they have so far contributed to the humanitarian crisis.
Britain is the second largest bilateral donor to the Syrian refugee crisis, having committed more than £1.1billion ($1.6bn) to refugee camps in the region.
It has accepted to take in a limited number of refugees from the camps in the region, with the Prime Minister pledging to take in 20,000 by 2020.
By Christmas the UK had taken in 1,000 Syrians but the Government has been criticised for refusing to take in any of the estimated one million refugees who have already fled to Europe.
David Cameron, who insists the best way to resolve the refugee crisis is to concentrate on helping Syria's neighbours, pledged last month to press the European Union to relax rules on exports for Jordan in a bid to boost its economy.
Thursday's donor conference is co-hosted by Britain, Germany, Norway, Kuwait and the United Nations.
World leaders and representatives of dozens of countries have been invited, along with officials from international organizations, aid agencies and civic groups.
The UN said today that it expects nations to raise 'significant new funding' at the conference and is aiming for a new fund of more than £6 billion.
However, in a similar appeal to raise funds last year, just half of the £4.8billion ($7bn) target was achieved.
He continued: 'We have got a great opportunity on Thursday for the European Union to show that it is up for meeting this challenge, that it accepts its humanitarian responsibility but also that it can recognise self-interest.'
On a visit to to the Al Zaatari refugee camp yesterday, he warned that less than half of the migrants entering Europe are fleeing the brutal war in Syria.
More than a million people are expected to try and get into Europe this year but he insisted many were economic migrants who should be sent home.
Mr Hammond insisted the link between getting into Europe on a boat and winning the right to stay had to be broken.
He said many people were joining up with the massive refugee flows travelling to Europe - many walking through the frozen Balkans or trying to make the dangerous voyage from Turkey to the Greek island of Lesbos.
Breaking the link between getting to Europe and winning the right to stay has driven British policy of refusing to resettle migrants and refugees from other European countries to Britain.
Instead, the UK is taking in people identified as the most vulnerable by the UN from refugee camps around Syria.
He said: 'The influx from the region has opened up a flood which includes many people coming from other parts of the world, often via this region but not originating from Syria, not being originally displaced by this conflict.'
He continued: 'There are people from across a wide range of countries.
'And as our Prime Minister has said often, we need to break the link between getting in a boat and being able to stay permanently in Europe.
'The properly ordered way of doing things is they should be returned to their country of origin.
'There is a recognition across the European Union of this, that one of things the European Union is not doing effectively is returning asylum, non-legitimate refugees – promptly to their countries of origin.
'Getting this right is the key to solving this crisis.'
The camp opened in July 2012 and was initially home to just 100 families. But – with half of Syria’s 22million people having fled or been displaced or killed – Zaatari has grown rapidly.
The population of 80,000 is similar to that of Daventry in Northamptonshire and only slightly smaller than that of Bath.
Syrian government troops cut rebel supply lines to the key city of Aleppo yesterday.
Covered by Russian planes, President Bashar al-Assad’s forces blasted their way into two Shia villages breaking a long-running opposition siege.
The regime forces, believed to include Iran-backed Shia militias, have now cut rebel-held eastern Aleppo off from outside help.
The offensive angered the opposition and led to the suspension of peace talks in Geneva organised by the UN.
WHERE ARE THE 4.6M REFUGEES WHO HAVE FLED SYRIA?
Turkey: 2.5million
Lebanon: 1.01million
Jordan: 635,000
Iraq: 244 642
Serbia: 276,000
Germany: 184,053
Egypt and north Africa: 150,000
Sweden: 102,870
Hungary: 72,000
Austria: 31,000
Bulgaria: 17,000
Switzerland: 11,000
Norway: 11,000
France: 9,000
United Kingdom: 8,000
Spain: 7,000
DailyMail
No comments:
Post a Comment