UN Resident Coordinator Address to Donors and Partners at UNRWA's Emergency Appeal Event

Dear colleagues and representatives of diplomatic missions and heads of cooperation.

Thank you for joining with us today at the Jordan launch of UNRWA’s Emergency Appeal for Palestine Refugees from Syria. 

Thirteen years after the start of protests in Syria – events and counter-response that would change the course of not only Syria, but the region as a whole – we gather yet again. 

We gather to assess the needs of people displaced by the ensuing conflict. 

We gather to identify what types of support they need to meet their basic needs and protection. 

We gather to plan how we can work together to respond. 

Although this is our 13th time gathering, and storm clouds from newer crises are heavy upon us, threatening peace and regional stability in unprecedented ways, it is of utmost importance that we not forget the people affected by other crises, such as the Syria crisis. This crisis also once dominated peace and security conversations in New York and capitals across the world, and although it’s place on the global stage has diminished somewhat, the needs of the people we are here to help. 

Through your presence here today, you and your countries have signalled your commitment to remain steadfast in supporting those displaced from Syria, including Palestine refugees, despite competing challenges. 

On behalf of the entire United Nations in Jordan, and as the Secretary-General’s representative in the Kingdom, allow me to recognize and appreciate your commitment to be here today, and the unparalleled sustained generosity by all in this room over the past 13 years. 

I wish to also recognize the sustained hospitality provided by Jordan throughout this time, despite the strain it has put on the nation. 

As this is the 13th time we have gathered to discuss the needs of people and the planned response by the UN, I thought I might not give a detailed recounting of the impact that the Syria crisis has had on Jordan over the years. This is well documented. And you are no doubt fully abreast of such details. 

Let us instead look at where we are today, and what lies ahead. 

Where are we today? 

Some thirteen years into the Syria crisis, conditions are not in place for returns and insecurity and instability continues in various areas of Syria. Lives remain disrupted. Coping mechanisms are being stretched. And hundreds of thousands continue to rely on international assistance and protection for survival, including 20,000 Palestine Refugees that fled displacement in Syria for renewed displacement in Jordan. 

Thirteen years of unprecedented and innovative approaches to supporting refugees and Jordan as host nation have set a new global standard. However, over the past year, the hard won gains made through these efforts – gains made by everyone in this room, the United Nations and the Government of Jordan – have been put at risk by the worldwide decrease in donor budgets and the lack of fiscal space within the Government of Jordan to fill the gap. 

In 2023, steep declines in funding for UN operations forced us to begin reducing the amount of support we provide to Syrian refugees in Jordan, and the number of people able to receive that support. 

Consequentially, last year, the number of Syria refugee households in Jordan facing difficulties in affording food and adopting negative food-based coping strategies increased as well.

More than 80 per cent of Syria refugee households reported they relied on less preferred and less expensive food.

25 per cent of Syrian refugees received eviction threats. 

Some 11 per cent of refugees were unable to access health services due to the cost or distance of healthcare. 

The continuity of Government services to Syrian refugees such as education and health care was called into question, as there too, neither international nor national funding was guaranteed.

What lies ahead? 

Unfortunately, the outlook is not positive. 

In 2024, our operations face even greater financial risks, with most UN agencies including UNRWA, UNHCR, WFP, UNICEF, UNFPA and UNWomen all facing funding shortfalls, putting imminently at risk a wide array of services, from women’s health care and empowerment, to food for needy families, to water in the camps. 

Meanwhile, the economy of Jordan has taken another hit, this time from the fallout of the war in Gaza and the disruptions in the Red Sea. Tourism dropped overnight. The costs for trade and transport rose due to increased costs in insurance. Domestic consumption plummeted. Overall GDP growth is expected to slow down if the war becomes protracted. 

As a result, unemployment remains high, particularly for youth and women, as does national debt and the cost to service it. 

All of these factors combined together with the overwhelming anger and grief gripping the Kingdom as a result of the carnage in Gaza and increased threats at Jordan’s borders and in its skies – create enormous pressure within and on the only stable country in the region.

As we move through what may become an extended period of regional instability, let us redouble our efforts to ensure that all people seeking refuge in Jordan, as well as the people and Government of Jordan themselves, are supported to the maximum possible to weather this storm, remaining resilient in the day to day, sustaining hope for the future, and being comforted that the world will not leave them behind.