Jordan: Syrians Blocked, Stranded in Desert

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(Beirut, June 2, 2015) –Jordanian authorities have severely restricted informal border crossings in the eastern part of the country since late March, 2015, stranding hundreds of Syrians in remote desert areas just inside Jordan’s border, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch analyzed satellite imagery and interviewed international aid workers. They said the Syrians have only limited access to food, water, and medical assistance. Jordan should allow the stranded people to move further into Jordan, and let UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, register them as asylum seekers.
 
Until March, the informal border crossings were the only entry points into Jordan still open to most Syrians. Recent satellite imagery shows a large group of people in an area with some tents just inside the border near two of the informal crossings. Aid agencies estimated that about 2,500 people were stranded there by April 10, but an international aid worker told Human Rights Watch that this number had dropped to around 1,000 by late May after the Jordanian border guards allowed some of them to move out of the border zone.