(MENAFN- Famagusta Gazette) Refugees and experts in Jordan recently voiced concerns regarding food security and the host country's burden as the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) ponders food assistance cut. “My eldest grandson already worked in the summertime to earn basic needs for our family, though he is only 14 years old,” Um Tareq, a Syrian refugee said, worrying that the aid cut would leave her family no choice but to withdraw their grandson from school.
Jordan hosts the world's second-highest share of refugees per capita. Some 660,000 Syrian refugees and 80,000 refugees from other countries are registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as of May 2023, according to the WFP Jordan Country Brief of May 2023.
In May, WFP provided monthly food assistance to around 456,000 refugees in Jordan's camps and host communities through cash-based transfers, according to the WFP report.
However, the aid organization has decided to reduce its monthly assistance in July by one-third, considering there is a deficit of 115.8 million U.S. dollars to cover the food requirement of 465,000 refugees in camps and communities, the report noted.
About 96 percent of the beneficiaries in May were from Syria, with 3 percent from Iraq, and the remaining from Yemen, Sudan, Somalia and other countries, the report added.
Meanwhile, a survey by the UNHCR in June showed that 97 percent of Syrian refugees surveyed in Jordan have no intention of returning to Syria in the coming 12 months, while only 0.8 percent would be interested in returning home.
Mohammad Sami, an economic news editor in Jordan told Xinhua that Jordan as a major host country, its resources were already running out, and WFP's move to cut monthly allowance would put pressure on the Jordanian government as well.
Jordan said earlier this year that the deficits of the Jordan Response Plan for the Syria Crisis amounted to about 1.59 billion U.S. dollars in 2022.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said in late June that Jordan has surpassed its capacity to accommodate refugees, urging the international community to take a stronger humanitarian and security role to guarantee refugees' living conditions.
Saeb Rawashdeh, a political analyst at Jordan Press Foundation, said Jordan opens its borders to all refugees in urgent need, calling upon the international community to support the kingdom's imperative role in hosting refugees.
He also called for urgent funds from the international community to sustain WFP to ensure its function and secure that the most vulnerable are not abandoned in their time of need. ■
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