Jordan - Last week (15 September), IOM and the European Union held a roundtable in Amman with the Jordanian Armed Forces/Border Guards and partners involved in the response to the Syrian crisis in Jordan to discuss the current procedures, the challenges and the way forward in receiving Syrian refugees at the borders.

Presentations were given by representatives of the EU Delegation, IOM experts on humanitarian border management from the IOM Regional Office in Cairo and IOM Libya, and senior staff of the Jordanian Armed Forces/Border Guards.

Other attendees at the sessions included Embassies of the UK, the USA, Italy and the Netherlands, Ministries including the Foreign Affairs and Interior, and partner agencies including UNICEF, UNHCR, WFP, UNOPS and ICRC.

The EU’s generous funding of 8 million Euros has allowed IOM Jordan to support the Jordanian Border Guards with 28 vehicles to replace the military exhausted ones and with training to further enhance and strengthen their capacity for managing the safe migration of refugees fleeing the ongoing violence in Syria.

The roundtable provided the opportunity to openly discuss the gaps and needs in order to adequately address them, and served as useful preparation for discussions to develop standard operating procedures on humanitarian border management, which will be followed up in upcoming collaboration between the EU, IOM, the Jordanian Armed Forces/Border Guards and other international partners.

The roundtable was carried out under the EU-funded project: Support to the Jordanian Border Guards in Provision of Humanitarian Assistance to Syrian Refugees Crossing the Syrian-Jordanian Borders.

IOM Jordan has been fully engaged in the emergency response to the Syrian crisis since July 2012. This initiative forms part of the wider cooperation between the European Union and the Kingdom of Jordan regarding the refugee crisis in Jordan.

For more information from IOM Jordan please contact

Laila Tomeh
Email: ltomeh@iom.int

or

Ben Webster
Email: bwebster@iom.int

For more information from the EU please contact

Reem Al Jazi
Email: Reem.AL-JAZI@eeas.europa.eu