Doctors, activists, and aid groups like Doctors Without Borders are teaming up with smugglers in Jordan to supply field hospitals for the injured in Syria's war.
This weekly update provides a snapshot of the United Nations and its partners’ response to the influx of Syrian refugees into Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey. The response is led by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and is undertaken in full coordination with host Governments. This report covers the period from 16 to 24 May 2012. The next update will be issued on Thursday, 31 May 2012.
Northern Jordan - As violence has intensified in Syria, the smuggling business has boomed. A recent trip to northern Jordan near the Syrian border showed how the dangerous practice of dissidents smuggling food and medicine to injured and famished people in Syria is thriving.
Overlooking Syria's southern border from Jordan, Ahmed Al-Masri is making plans to cross it. He leads a group of Syrian smugglers who risk everything on a daily basis to bring supplies into the country. From an undisclosed safe house on the Jordanian side of the border, Ahmed explains why they take the risk.
CAIRO, 23 May 2012 – A regional meeting of experts held in Cairo could result in a doubling of the number of Arab countries that systematically report on disaster losses.
UNISDR brought together over 40 participants from 15 Arab countries to discuss and exchange experiences on establishing national disaster loss databases. These disaster inventories (www.desinventar.net) enable countries to analyse disaster trends and their impacts in a systematic manner through the collection of historical disaster data.
According to the UN Peacekeeping Chief (May 2012), ceasefire violations are occurring in Syria while UN monitors continue to arrive in the country in increasing numbers to monitor the Syrian Government’s implementation of Special Envoy Kofi Annan’s Six Point Plan. 260 monitors of the planned 300 have now been deployed in Syria.
Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
May 21, 2012
The G-8 launched the Deauville Partnership with Arab Countries in Transition in 2011 to support the democratic transitions in the Middle East and North Africa. The Partnership offers a unique mechanism for marshaling international support from the G-8, regional partners, International Financial Institutions (IFI), and International Organizations (IO) to provide political and economic support for reforms underway in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, and Jordan.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced support that will help countries in the Middle East and North Africa to modernize their economies and become more open societies. The announcement was made during the G-8 Summit in Camp David, Maryland.
This weekly update provides a snapshot of the United Nations and its partners’ response to the influx of Syrian refugees into Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey. The response is led by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and is undertaken in full coordination with host Governments. This report covers the period from 10 to 16 May 2012. The next update will be issued on Thursday, 24 May 2012.
AMMAN, May 20, 2012 (AFP) - The United Nations said on Sunday that 480 Palestinian refugees have fled Syria to Jordan since the start of a revolt against President Bashar al-Assad's regime last year.
"The UN Relief and Works Agency have registered 480 Palestinian refugees who have sought refuge in Jordan since the beginning of the crisis in Syria," UNRWA spokeswoman, Anwar Abu Sakina, told AFP.
Under a decision issued by Minister for International Development Heidi Hautala, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs will allocate 1.9 million euros in humanitarian aid to the victims of the crises in the Sahel region and Syria. In addition, one million euros will be granted in support of the World Health Organisation humanitarian programme.
One Little Life at a Time: Emergency Response in the Horn of Africa
In 2011, people in the Horn of Africa asked only one question: When will the rains return?
After two years of drought, 13 million people (half of them children) are still hungry and at risk of malnutrition—or worse. Families now depend on humanitarian aid to survive, many sheltered in the camps on the borders of Ethiopia and Kenya.
(Beirut, May 15, 2012) – Jordanian authorities are about to deport nine detained Eritrean refugees, including a 7-year-old girl, to Yemen where they risk indefinite detention and possibly deportation to persecution in Eritrea, Human Rights Watch said today. Jordan should allow the group to remain in Jordan and give the United Nations refugee agency access to the refugees, Human Rights Watch said.
EU bolsters its support to reformers in its Southern and Eastern neighbourhoods
Brussels, 15 May 2012 - In May 2011, in the midst of dramatic changes sweeping the Southern Neighbourhood, the EU completed a major review of its European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). According to a policy of “more for more”, committed reformers in the EU’s Southern and Eastern neighbourhood would be awarded greater and broader EU support.
The Syrian Arab Republic participated in the annual regional Vaccination Week from 24 to 30 March, during which 171 916 children were vaccinated as part of an immunization campaign.
A mobile health clinic has been renovated and equipped by WHO and is currently stationed in Rural Homs.
WHO has deployed a senior emergency health coordinator to its country office in the Syrian Arab Republic.
The Deputies adopted the following statement by the Committee of Ministers:
“The Committee of Ministers condemns with the utmost firmness the continued violations of international human rights law committed since the beginning of hostilities in Syria, despite the current presence on the ground of an advance team of UN observers. The Committee calls for an immediate respect of the ceasefire which should have come into effect on 12 April.
This weekly update provides a snapshot of the United Nations and its partners’ response to the influx of
Syrian refugees into Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey. The response is led by UNHCR, the UN Refugee
Agency, and is undertaken in full coordination with host Governments. This report covers the period from 02 to 09 May 2012. The next update will be issued on Thursday, 16 May 2012.
I. HIGHLIGHTS
The total number of assisted Syrian refugees in the region amounts to 67,668, out of whom 55,198 are registered by UNHCR. Registration efforts by UNHCR are intensified.
AMMAN, May 9, 2012 (AFP) - The staff of the UN Palestinian refugee agency in Jordan said on Wednesday they have suspended their open-ended strike for better pay after reaching a government-mediated deal with management.
"We have decided to suspend the strike following mediation by the Jordanian government," a joint statement by UN Relief and Works Agency employees said.
"Under the agreement reached with management, a 50-dinar ($70) raise will be paid retroactive to January 1, 2012, by the end of this month," it added without elaborating.
