The displacement of Iraqis is the fastest-growing refugee crisis in the world. An estimated 450,000 Iraqis fled to Jordan between 2003 and 2006, when the Jordanian government closed the borders. An estimated 60% or more have exceeded their visa time limits. Most of them have settled into poorer urban areas of Jordan, with a majority (70%) residing in Amman, with some dispersion into Zarqa, Irbid, Madaba and Karak. In Amman, Iraqis are concentrated in the neighborhoods and suburbs of Alnaser Alqwaismeh, Aljoufeh, Alashrafieh, Alnathif, North Hashemi, Sweileh, Salt, AbuAlandah, and Sahab. These neighborhoods represent Palestinian-dominated lower income neighborhoods where 65% of the population lives at or under the poverty line.

Iraqi refugee heads of households have spent what little savings they had, and are now finding it increasingly difficult to provide for their families, particularly as their legal status bars them from seeking and securing legal employment. Many refugees have reported being paid less than Jordanians for equivalent work, or report being paid nothing at all for a hard days’ work. Options for economic livelihood are limited for an illegal Iraqi refugee, and some Iraqi refugees are now resorting to begging and prostitution. Women who cannot provide for their families are particularly vulnerable to poverty, exploitation, and abuse.

Iraqi children of non-school age (under age six) have been raised in largely confined environments by parents who live in isolation, discrimination and often times, exploitation. There is a dire need for basic safe play places for these children, quality psychosocial services, as well as introducing better parenting skills and a healthy home environment. 

Outreach to Iraqis has been difficult as Iraqi refugees are dispersed in multiple urban areas, making it harder for aid organizations to identify and reach them, to provide information about assistance programs. Due to the unrecognized refugee status of Iraqis by the Jordanian government, aid agencies are forced to work within limited parameters, specifically with respect to outreach activities and use of mass media. As such, outreach programming must rely significantly on face-to-face contact and word-of-mouth.

IRD US’s Iraqi Community Service Program (I-CSP), funded by UNHCR, worked in partnership with the Noor Al Hussein Foundation (NHF), Family Guidance and Awareness Center (FGAC), and the Khiam Rehabilitation Center in Lebanon to provide gender, age and diversity-oriented programs to Iraqi women, children and youth through expanded capacity of partnering community centers, as well as NHF’s Women’s Counseling Center, with aggressive outreach services to Iraqis in Amman, Irbid, Zarqa, Azraq and Salt. This model provided a critical focal point for social cohesion and service delivery that is now entirely lacking, but severely needed.

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