Authorities urge public not to give handouts to street beggars

AMMAN – Authorities want the public to stop giving handouts to street beggars, who will be targeted by a "rigourous" campaign in Ramadan, slated to start in the first week of June. 

Ministry of Social Development Spokesperson Fawaz Ratrout said the ministry would launch an intensified campaign, in cooperation with the Public Security Department, to combat vagrancy during the fasting month of Ramadan, indicating that the campaign will be under the slogan of "begging is forbidden in Islam, and criminalised by law".

It also targets the public by advising people against giving handouts to beggars, he said, adding that the ministry’s inspectors and police will work from early hours of the morning till late hours at night to detain vagrants in Amman and the other cities. 

"Nearly 99 per cent of street elderly beggars who pretend to have disabilities or other health problems are healthy," Ratrout said. 

The number of beggars usually increases during Ramadan, he said, noting that between 400 and 500 street vagrants are detained in Ramadan of each year, most of whom are male children and adult women. 

Twenty per cent of vagrants in Jordan are of Syrian refugees, the ministry's spokesperson noted. 

He said that young beggars are mostly dispatched by parents or other people near traffic lights, adding the inspectors will keep their eyes open to apprehend such human traffickers.  

Ratrout indicated that in the coming few days, the ministry will officially inaugurate a shelter for victims of human trafficking. 

The shelter, named “Dar Al Karameh”, has received 34 victims of human trafficking since the beginning of 2016, all of whom are women”, Ratrout added. 

Karameh means dignity in English to ensure the well-being of human trafficking victims in Jordan, according to the ministry.