Forced Migration in the OIC Member Countries:
Policy Framework Adopted by Host Countries
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levels of government, and with international organizations, the private sector and civil society
can help make these investments more effective and efficient. As the institutions charged with
managing policy toward the protected populations mature, they will show the way for forced
migrants to escape poverty and for Turkey to benefit from their presence.
3.2. JORDAN124
Jordan has long been one of the most significant—and generous—hosts of forced migrants
globally. As of the end of 2015, the refugee population in Jordan was the sixth largest in the
world (664,000), and Jordan hosted the second largest refugee population per capita with 87
refugees per 1,000 residents.125 Most refugees have been driven to seek refuge in Jordan from
conflicts in neighboring countries with which Jordan has long had close trade and migration
ties such as Syria and Iraq. Recently Jordan has also experienced growing flows from countries
further afield such as Yemen.
Most notable has been Jordan’s experience as a long-term host to Palestinian refugees. A
major recipient of the first Palestinian refugee flows in 1948, Jordan responded generously,
eventually granting most Palestinians the right to reside in the country permanently by
allowing them to obtain Jordanian citizenship. Nearly 70 years later, these first refugees and
their descendants have become deeply rooted in Jordanian society, comprising over 20
percent of the Jordanian population according to figures from the UN Relief and Works
Administration (UNRWA).126
Jordan has broadly been exemplary in its commitment to upholding the principle of
nonrefoulement, despite not being a signatory of the 1951 Refugee Convention. But the vivid
(and ongoing) memory of the Palestinian refugee situation—and the changes it wrought to the
composition of Jordanian society—has made the Jordanian state hesitant to take on such
permanent protection commitments again. Jordan has thus remained reluctant to formalize its
protection obligations by creating an official asylum law or by granting later waves of
refugees, including Palestinians, more secure legal status in the country.
Instead, protection and social assistance policies for refugees in Jordan, while generous, have
been driven to a large extent by the exigencies of the situation at the time. While initially
welcoming to both Iraqi and Syrian refugees, Jordan has slowly scaled back the benefits and
rights afforded to both groups as the refugee population in the country has swelled while
international assistance has stagnated. The ad hoc approach to protection has created
challenges in particular for smaller refugee populations who have not benefited from the
special policy initiatives that have targeted Syrians and Iraqis. Moreover new visa restrictions
and border controls have sought to deter the entry of new arrivals from significant refugee-
producing countries.
The protection situation in Jordan is thus a constantly evolving one. This chapter will examine
the current protection frameworks for refugees in Jordan and offer observations on positive
practices as well as remaining gaps and vulnerabilities. The size of the refugee population and
the strain that has been placed on Jordanian services means that international assistance is
likely to remain critical for some time.
124 Written by Susan Fratzke, with contributions from ARDD-Legal Aid
125 UNHCR, Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2015 (Geneva: UNHCR, 2016),
126 MPI calculations from UNRWA, “Where We Work,” updated December 1, 2015,
and UNHCR, “Population Statistics Database,” accessed July 22, 2016,