Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides recently visited the Azraq Refugee Camp in Jordan, where the EU is providing funding to keep a camp hospital running and covering reproductive health, mental health services and psychological support. Mr. Stylianides also visited schools that benefit from an EU-funded ‘Education in Emergencies’ project, targeting children with disabilities. The EU leader reiterated the bloc’s commitment to supporting Jordan, which hosts hundreds of thousands of refugees and discussed civil protection with the national authorities, most notably regional emergency preparedness and response mechanisms.
The EU and its member states are the leading donor in the humanitarian response to the Syrian refugee crisis. The EU has provided more than 344 million euros in humanitarian assistance for refugees since 2012 to cover services such as health, food, water, winterization support and basic needs assistance. In 2018 alone, EU humanitarian aid to Jordan totaled 36 million euros. The aid has benefitted refugees living in the Zaatari and Azraq refugee camps as well as Syrians in urban settings. The provision of basic services in villages and towns across the country is also covered by the EU aid.
The collective response raised around 11 billion euro since March 2011 when the crisis started. The EU institutions have overall mobilized more than 2.2 billion euro in humanitarian, economic, development and stabilization assistance for the Syria crisis. Jordan is one of the countries affected most by the Syrian crisis, with the second highest share of refugees compared to its population in the world, 89 refugees per 1,000 inhabitants. Around 9% of Jordan’s population are refugees, most of them living in cities and towns but many remain residing in two refugee camps – Azraq and Zataari. The latter is the world’s biggest refugee camp with 80,000 residents.
