Jordan’s ‘other’ refugees stuck in limbo with frozen asylum claims
MIDDLE EAST EYE (3/7/2022) Before he fled Sudan, Ahmed was an award-winning runner. Now, as an undocumented asylum seeker in Jordan, he mostly runs away from the police. “But I’m not a criminal,” he says as he opens his backpack to show his seven medals – gold, silver and bronze – won at junior championships in three […]
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“Amman is a prison” Rise in suicides highlights mental health crisis in Jordan
THE NEW HUMANITARIAN (14/6/2022) Adam Jawad escaped Iraq with his family following the US-led invasion in 2003, living in Syria until war forced him to flee again a decade later, this time to Jordan, where he eked out a living doing odd jobs and working at a cultural centre in the capital, Amman. Jawad wrote […]
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Com o ódio à janela
SETENTA E QUATRO (28/1/2022) “Hoje acordámos com o ódio escrito nas nossas janelas.” Foi assim que os donos de uma mercearia árabe em Lisboa denunciaram terem sido alvos de um ataque xenófobo. Numa madrugada de outubro, a mercearia do Médio Oriente Zaytouna (azeitona em árabe) foi vandalizada com uma mensagem ofensiva contra o islão, e […]
Read →How domestic workers protect and support each other in Jordan
EQUAL TIMES (16/6/2020) When she left the Philippines to work in Jordan, Rosa took two mobile phones with her. She knew that one of them would be confiscated by the recruitment agency that brings women like her to the Middle East to work as housekeepers, nannies and caretakers. The other one she kept hidden in […]
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‘Like a ship about to sink’: Refugees in Jordan voice pandemic despair
THE NEW HUMANITARIAN (14/5/2020) When Jordan announced one of the world’s strictest pandemic-related lockdowns on 20 March, the kingdom gave just a few hours notice that 10 million people would be restricted to their homes, banned even from making trips to buy food. Fears grew quickly for the country’s close to one million refugees. How […]
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For these Syrian artists, humor is essential to coping with oppression and war
WASHINGTON POST (14/1/2019) When they hear shelling outside their apartment in Damascus, close to the front line, Rand and Hala start to laugh. They were just talking about artillery. “Rand called a bomb and it came immediately,” jokes Hala. “Call God,” she tells her friend. “But God won’t come,” she continues, as they keep laughing. […]
Read →Darfur refugees dream of return
QANTARA DW (2/9/2019) Military and pro-democracy leaders signed a power-sharing agreement in August paving the way for a promised democratic transition after 30 years of authoritarian rule in Sudan. But refugees who fled genocidal violence in Darfur are expressing their reservations about the deal. When Ahmed Yusuf Ahmed heard that Omar al-Bashir had been overthrown […]
Read →Little hope for change among Sudanese refugees who fled violence in Darfur
AL ARABY (15/8/2019) Ahmed was 16 years old when he fled his village in the Karnoi area in west Darfur. “In the beginning there were planes bombing the area. In November 2003, the Janjaweed came. There were rapes, beatings. They killed my father and stole our cattle,” he says, referring to the Arab militias recruited […]
Read →“Discounted Maids” – ads perpetuate modern slavery conditions in Jordan
PUBLIC RADIO INTERNATIONAL (14/6/2019) “Discounted maids!” announces a male voice on the radio. “If you’re not satisfied you can return your maid for free.” Every week, ads aired on the radio in Jordan offer “one-month trial” periods and “cash on delivery” options for employers who want to hire migrant domestic workers. Online ads via social […]
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In Jordan, Some Refugee Fathers Find a Place to Be Vulnerable
NEWS DEEPLY (26/3/2019) Humanitarian aid organizations tend to view men as more capable of coping with hardship and often overlook them as a vulnerable population of refugees, writes Marta Vidal. One group in Jordan is trying to change that. Each week, a group of 15 or so refugee men meet at a community center in East […]
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