WUNRN
JORDAN-SYRIA - OVER 450,000 SYRIAN
REFUGEES LIVE OUTSIDE CAMPS IN JORDAN - WOMEN & CHILDREN - SURVEY
NOTES HARDSHIPS
Direct Link to Full 87-Page
Survey Report: Syrian
Refugees Living Outside Camps in Jordan - Home Visit Data Findings 2013
More
than 450,000 Syrian refugees who fled the bloodshed in their country are
experiencing grave living conditions outside the refugee camps
in Jordan, according to a survey conducted by the UN High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR) and International Relief and Development.
Syrian children living OUTSIDE refugee camps in Jordan.
Spokesperson
for the UNHCR Dan McNorton explained that: "The survey shows the
day-to-day survival struggle of some 450,000 registered Syrian refugees living
outside camps,as they face rising rents, inadequate housing and educational
challenges for their children."
This is
despite the support that Jordan offers to them, McNorton added, including free
access to public health care and school systems.
He pointed
out that among the
584,600 Syrians currently living in Jordan, it is estimated that almost four in
five live outside the formal camps, and "as their
resources dry, many are turning to 'negative coping mechanisms' to make ends
meet, sometimes placing themselves at risk of exploitation."
The survey
revealed that more than 90 percent of the refugees live in rented
accommodations, where the prices have risen in 2012 and 2013 by as much as 25
percent in some locations. Rent payments account for almost two thirds of
refugee expenditures.
Half of the
refugees feel they live in inadequate dwellings, including badly ventilated
apartments that suffer from dampness or mould.
McNorton
noted that, "61 percent of Syrian children covered in the survey did not
go to school during the 2012-2013 academic year." The reasons behind that,
the survey shows, include the challenges of adjusting to the Jordanian curriculum,
the inability to catch up, having to work to earn money for their families and
the over-stretched capacity of the Jordanian public education system.
According to
the survey, the percentage of refugees receiving an income from humanitarian
assistance and charities reportedly decreased from 63 per cent to 49 per cent.
The UN has
estimated that more than 100,000 people were killed and some 6.3 million people
have been internally displaced since the Syrian conflict broke out in March
2011. More than two million Syrians have fled to neighbouring countries
including Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.
A third
refugee camp in Jordan will open on 30 April to accommodate the latest influx
of Syrians. According to UNHCR, Al-Azraq camp, located nearly 100 km east of
the Jordanian capital Amman, is expected to receive as many as 130,000 people.
The new camp
will hopefully reduce the pressures in Al-Za'atari refugee camp, where the
number of refugees currently living there well exceeds its capacity.
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