Country Information

The population of Jordan is approximately 5.3 million. Jordan is predominantly Arab (98%). Smaller groups include Circassian (1%) and Armenian (1%). Jordan is predominantly Sunni Muslim (92%), with Christians (6%) and others (2%). The government is a Constitutional Monarchy; King Abdallah bin al-Hussein II is the current leader.

Political and Economic Environment
Jordan, bordered by Iraq, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Syria and the West Bank, is considered to be one of the stabilizing countries in the Middle East region. Once called TransJordan, it achieved full independence in 1946 and was renamed the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. In 1948 war tens of thousands of Palestinians fled to Jordan. Shortly afterwards, King Abdullah proclaimed himself king of Palestine and extended his rule to the West Bank before he was assassinated in Jerusalem in 1951. King Talal, father of King Hussein, succeeded him for a short period before abdicating. His teenage son Hussein then took the throne, becoming the Arab world's longest-serving ruler.

Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan during the six-day 1967 war. King Hussein continued publicly to demand the convening of a U.N.-backed international peace conference to achieve Israeli withdrawal from 1967 Arab occupied lands. In an apparent reaction to a Palestinian uprising in the occupied lands that began in December 1987, King Hussein renounced claims to the West Bank in July 1988 and declared support for an independent Palestinian state. Jordan and Palestinian delegates attended Middle East peace talks launched in Madrid in 1991 in a joint delegation to skirt Israel's refusal to deal with the Palestinian Liberation Organization. In 1994 Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel, ending 46-year official state of war and achieving Hussein's "fulfillment of a dream".

King Hussein's health deteriorated and in 1998 he replaced Crown Prince Hassan, his heir of 34 years, with his eldest son Abdallah. Though King Abdallah has initiated sweeping economic reform since succeeding his father, King Hussein, in 1999, Jordan continues to face high rates of debt, poverty, and unemployment coupled with chronic shortages of water and other natural resources. Due to water scarcity, Jordan has entered into a water sharing agreement with Israel and is investigating various supply expansion alternatives. Phosphates, potash, fertilizer derivatives, international remittances and aid, and tourism have traditionally driven Jordan's economy. King Abdallah is expanding Jordan's information technology sector along with Jordan's participation in tariff-free export zones with neighbors and the wider international community to spur economic growth.

The issue of Palestine continues to dominate Middle East politics and peace initiatives. In its recent reaction, Jordan has expressed explicit concern over the construction of an Israeli security fence in the West Bank because of national security concerns to the state. Jordanian officials assert that the fence will force Palestinians to considering the option of trying to settle in Jordan.

Humanitarian Situation
No stranger to refugees, Jordan has been host to Palestinians fleeing conflict in Israel since 1948. The Palestinian refugee population swelled again as a result of the 1967 six-day war and remains a destination for Palestinians weary of strife in Israel. Palestinians now make up more than half of the Jordanian population. Jordan also absorbed Iraqi refugees from the 1990 Gulf War. Estimates at the number of Iraqis currently in Jordan range from 500,000 to 800,000. These numbers reflect a growing flow out of Iraq since the 2003 invasion of that country, particularly after the explosion of sectarian violence in Iraq after February 2006. Other refugee groups in Jordan include: Sudanese, Syrians, and Sri Lankans.

Though not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention, Jordan has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees regarding the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers, and Jordan has agreed to abide by the UN Refugee Convention which stipulates that Jordan will not participate in refoulement.

Despite these arrangements, Jordan refused to grant Iraqis temporary protected status after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Currently, it applies standard immigration law to Iraqis, which is based in part on an individual’s ability to demonstrate economic self-sufficiency. As a result, anecdotal reports suggest that up to 50% of Iraqis are being turned away at the border. Though Iraqis allowed to enter the country must demonstrate economic self-sufficiency, the prolonged nature of the conflict in their home has seriously strained the resources of many Iraqis in Jordan. Without the ability to work while in Jordan, they are facing an increasingly precarious situation.

International support for Iraqi refugees is extremely limited. Though UNHCR set up two refugee camps at the Jordanian-Iraqi border in 2003 in anticipation of a refugee crisis, one of those camps has been closed and the second, which is currently holding only third-country nationals awaiting resettlement, is scheduled to close in December 2006. UNHCR’s budget for Iraqi refugees in the entire region has been slashed from a high of $150 million in 2003 to $29 million in 2006, seriously decreasing the agency’s ability to provide for the needs of the growing refugee community in Jordan. As a result, most Iraqi refugees in Jordan have turned to family networks to provide basic support.

Updated October 2006