Forced Migration in the OIC Member Countries:
Policy Framework Adopted by Host Countries
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Syria. Arrivals increased substantially in 2012 and 2013, with nearly 304,000 refugees
arriving in 2013 alone.129
The approximately 655,000 Syrians recognized as refugees in Jordan as of June 2016 amount
to 91 percent of registrations with UNHCR.130 The Jordanian government has, however, long
suggested that the total Syrian population in Jordan is much larger than the number
registered. The latest Jordanian census published in January 2016, by comparison, suggested
that there are 1.3 million Syrians present in the country.131
Little is known about the unregistered Syrian population. Cross border migration between
Jordan and Syria for economic and social reasons was common before the war,132 and it is
likely that some of the Syrians who have not registered with UNHCR arrived prior to the
current refugee flows. Non-governmental organizations also report that some more recent
Syrian arrivals have simply chosen not to register with UNHCR;133 in 2014, the government
estimated that as many as 400,000 Syrians had arrived since the outbreak of conflict but
remained unregistered.134
The registered Syrian refugee population in Jordan is young. Over half are children age 17 or
younger.135 There are also slightly more women than men, and 52 percent of adult Syrians
(18-59) are women.136 Syrians in Jordan have relatively lower education levels than the
Jordanian population at large; this may be due in part to their young average age as well as the
disruptions many have experienced to their education due to the conflict. An ILO household
survey conducted in 2014 found that just 15 percent of Syrian respondents in Jordan over the
age of 15 had completed secondary education, while 42 percent of Jordanian respondents had
finished secondary school.137
Iraqis, 2006 – Present
Iraqis have a long history of seeking refuge in Jordan, and refugees from Iraq currently
comprise the second largest refugee population in Jordan. Reports indicate that Iraqis have
been arriving since 1958.138 More recently, large flows of Iraqi refugees arrived beginning in
2006 as violence and instability in Iraq increased following the US-led invasion in 2003. Flows
129 UNHCR, “Registered Syrians in Jordan”
130 UNHCR, “Registered Syrians in Jordan,” updated May 31, 2016,
131 Department of Statistics, Jordan 2015 Census. (Amman: Department of Statistics, 2016),
content/uploads/sites/2/2016/02/Census_results_2016.pdf
132 The 2004 census, the last census conducted in Jordan prior to the war, recorded nearly 27,000 Syrian citizens residing in
Jordan. Syrians were the third largest foreign national group, after Palestinians and Egyptians. Department of Statistics,
“Table 7.7 Distribution of Non-Jordanian Population Living in Jordan 15+ Years of Age by Economic Activity Status,
nationality and Sex,” updated 2004,
133 CARE, Five years into exile: the challenges faced by Syrian refugees outside camps in Jordan and how they and their host
communities are coping, (Amman: CARE International, 2015),
p6
134 Denis Sullivan and Sarah Tobin, “Security and Resilience Among Syrian Refugees in Jordan,”, Middle East Research and
Information Portal, updated October 14 2014
135 UNHCR, “Registered Syrians in Jordan”
136 UNHCR, “Registered Syrians in Jordan”
137 Svein Erik Stave and Solveig Hillesund, Impact of Syrianr efugees on the Jordanian labour market, (Beirut: International
Labour Organization, 2015),
138 Dallal Stevens, “Legal Status, Labelling, and Protection: the Case of Iraqi ‘Refugees’ in Jordan,” International Journal
ofJordan’, Int J Refugee Law 25, no. 1 (2013).