UNHCR in Jordan
In the early 1990s, UNHCR operations in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan were relatively small, serving a few thousand refugees and asylum-seekers from several countries in the Middle East and North Africa region. In the aftermath of the Iraqi war in 2003, the operation expanded to meet the refugees who were fleeing Iraq.
After the crisis in Syria erupted in March 2011, however, tens of thousands – and later hundreds of thousands – of Syrian refugees were forced to flee across the border and seek international protection in Jordan. For the last decade, UNHCR has been working to ensure their protection.
Syria’s ongoing war, with 6.6 million internally displaced persons, and more than 5.6 million displaced in the surrounding region and beyond, has made the Middle East the world’s largest producer and host of forcibly displaced population. About 654,000 Syrian refugees are currently registered with UNHCR in Jordan*.
Additionally, the Kingdom hosts refugees of Iraqi, Yemeni, Sudanese, Somali and other nationalities, for a total of some 730,000 individuals, making Jordan one of the countries with the highest refugee population per capita, and placing enormous pressure on the country and its host communities.
UNHCR Jordan is now running three main offices across the Kingdom (Amman, Irbid and Mafraq) and has presence in Jordan’s two main refugee camps, Azraq and Zaatari.
UNHCR works closely with the Government of Jordan and numerous other national and international partners in providing protection and assistance to refugees and asylum seekers, as well as to Jordanian communities affected by the refugee influx.
* As of September 2023
Palestinian registered refugees are cared for in some 60 camps across the Middle East (including Jordan) by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which was set up in 1949 to care for displaced Palestinians.
UNHCR globally
UNHCR, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (or the UN Refugee Agency), is a global organization dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people.
We work to ensure that everybody has the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge, having fled violence, persecution, war or disaster at home.
Since 1950, we have faced multiple crises on multiple continents, and provided vital assistance to refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced, returnees and stateless people, many of whom have nobody left to turn to.