Jordan - With winter weather and icy temperatures taking hold at Jordan’s Azraq refugee camp, IOM this week started to distribute winter shoes to Syrian refugee children.

The project, funded by the UK’s Department of International Development (DFID), distributed 3,032 pairs of children’s shoes over three days. A further distribution of winter shoes for adults is planned for later this month.

Most Syrian refugees arrive in Jordan with very few belongings and few have proper footwear for winter conditions. Jordan experiences low temperatures, rain and snow in the winter. Most children walk around the camp in basic sandals.

IOM has been working alongside UNHCR and the Norwegian Refugee Council to provide refugees in the camp with essential non-food relief items, including winter clothing and footwear. For many of the refugees, it is their first winter in the camp.

IOM has also been providing transport to bring the refugees from a transit centre, where they are initially registered, to Jordan’s refugee camps. The project, which is also funded by DFID, has now provided transport to over 454,000 people. IOM also provides transport between camps to reunite separated families.

Since the start of the Syrian crisis, UNHCR has registered 620,441 refugees seeking shelter in Jordan. More are expected to arrive in 2015.

For more information, please contact IOM Jordan

Laila Tomeh,

Email: ltomeh@iom.int

Tel. +962 79644 9626

Or

Ben Webster

Email: bwebster@iom.int

Tel: +962 79132 8603