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How UK aid is helping refugees in Jordan

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Huw Merriman and Victoria Prentis take part in a class at Al Ashrafiyyeh Child and Family Centre in Amman, run by Save the Children and funded by Pearson.

This week, I travelled to Jordan with two Members of Parliament – Victoria Prentis and Huw Merriman.

Parliament regularly debates both the Syrian refugee crisis and the UK’s commitment to spend 0.7% of its national income on overseas aid.

The UK has provided more than £1 billion in humanitarian aid to the Syria crisis, and most recently pledged £84 million to help the Government of Jordan ensure Syrian children are attending school.

On the ground

With this action being taken overseas, it is hard for MPs to understand what’s happening in practice.

But thanks to funding from the Gates Foundation, we were able to provide an opportunity for Victoria and Huw to change this.

We spent a day in Za’atari refugee camp talking to women and children at some of the many, life-saving projects supported by UK aid.

We also spent time at Save the Children and Pearson Children and Family Centres in the host communities around Jordan’s capital Amman – 85% of Syrian refugees in Jordan live outside camps and in these communities.

Donate now to help child refugees.

UK aid is making an enormous difference

There is no question that UK aid is making a big difference in Jordan. Not only is the UK directly funding vital services for refugees, they are using our generous aid budget to leverage much-needed policy change.

The ‘Jordan Compact’, agreed at the London Syria Conference in February, pledged UK aid in return for sustained access to education and jobs for refugees – the vital ingredients of a meaningful, stable life.

The compact is slowly baring fruit. And as we saw from our visit, it is badly needed.

We met so many children who were not in school – including ten-year-old Rania, who had never been to school. These children now have a chance.

With parents desperate to give their children the best start in life, I better understood why many had previously given up hope and gambled on a new life in Europe.

Small improvements

The compact was undoubtedly a turning point, but absent from the London Syria Conference was meaningful action on protection – both for the refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, and for civilians inside Syria.

This visit reinforced just how much the Syrian people are still suffering as a result.

For many of the 655,000 registered refugees in Jordan, life is slowly improving.

And given the circumstances, the Government of Jordan’s response has been admirable; if our population swelled by a fifth, I’m sure we’d struggle to replicate the dignity and support afforded to refugees.

Protection remains a big concern

But this only goes so far. Many refugees still do not have legal protection, which means they are vulnerable to exploitation and unable to build a stable life in Jordan.

We met one mother who had been trying and failing to get her five children into school for three years.

Her two eldest sons – aged 16 and 14 – were working in a textile factory. Luckily, they had found Save the Children. There will be many more like her who we have not yet met.

And facing daily bombardment inside Syria, children and their families are still desperately trying to escape – yet all around them, borders are shut.

At breaking point, Syria’s nearest neighbours are no longer willing to help.

Dangerous challenges

This is vividly manifested in Jordan by the crisis at the ‘Berm’.

Around 75,000 refugees are trapped in this no man’s land between Syria and Jordan.

Jordan simply will not take any more refugees and due to security concerns, they will not let aid into the Berm either.

This is in Jordan, the exemplar of the region – refugees are facing similar, and often far more dangerous, challenges in Lebanon and Turkey.

With little sign of an end to this conflict, protection must be our top priority.

Offering a safe home

As part of this Europe must offer more safe and legal routes for refugees.

It is true that the vast majority of refugees would prefer to stay close to their homeland.

And by providing access to jobs and education in Jordan, UK aid is genuinely making this possible.

But this war has forced an unprecedented number of people from their homes, for the most vulnerable or for those with family and friends in the UK, we must also continue to offer sanctuary here in the UK.

Donate now to help child refugees and their families.

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