Not Welcome: Jordan’s Treatment of Palestinians Escaping Syria

Jordan has welcomed over 607,000 refugees seeking safe haven from the armed conflict in Syria since 2011, but it has not authorised entry to Palestinians escaping Syria since declaring an official policy of non-admission in early 2013.

This report documents how in addition to disallowing entry, Jordanian officials have arrested and deported back to Syria Palestinians who enter Jordan, returning over 100 since January 2013, including some who actually held Jordanian identification papers. Such deportations violate Jordan’s international obligation of nonrefoulement – the international customary law prohibition on the return of refugees and asylum seekers to places where they would face persecution or threat to their lives or safety.

As a result of the Jordanian government’s policy, many of the 14,000 Palestinians from Syria in Jordan do not have proper residency papers, rendering them vulnerable to exploitation, arrest, and deportation.