Jordan - IOM has launched the first of a series of capacity building workshops for Jordanian Border Guards coping with the arrival of thousands of refugees from Syria.

Syrian refugees continue to arrive in Jordan at a rate of about 500 a day and there are already an estimated 600,000 Syrians in the country.

The European Union (EU)-funded training is designed to address the specific needs of the over-stretched Border Guards and to identify areas in which support is most needed.

These include material resources such as vehicles, water and sanitation facilities, non-food relief items and medical supplies. But they also include technical assistance and training in international humanitarian law, detecting forged documents, and protecting Jordan’s borders from infiltration by terrorists, human traffickers, and smugglers.

The Border Guards also need to improve coordination in the field, where their workload has recently expanded and become more complex. It now includes providing a range of services, including emergency first aid and protection, which previously fell outside their remit.

The first IOM training addressed human rights, providing an overview of the legal framework within which the Border Guards operate in terms of Jordanian law and international humanitarian law.

The initiative is part of an EU-funded IOM project launched in January 2014: Support to the Jordanian Border Guards in Provision of Humanitarian Assistance to Syrian Refugees Crossing the Syrian-Jordanian Borders.

IOM Jordan has been actively involved in the emergency response to the Syrian crisis since July 2012.

For more information please contact

Laila Tomeh
IOM Amman
Email: ltomeh@iom.int
Tel. +962 796449626

or

Arianna Dini
Email: adini@iom.int
Tel. + 962 788370643