Interior Ministry assumes presidency of MCP Med TI, vows strengthened collaboration on migration challenges

AMMAN — The Ministry of Interior on Tuesday was elected as the president of the Training Institute on Migration Capacity Partnership for the Mediterranean (MCP Med TI) for the next two years, succeeding Malta.

The Council is made up of representatives from Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia, Libya, Malta, Austria, Denmark, the European Union and international observers, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

Speaking at the inauguration of the institute's board meetings, Minister of Interior Mazen Al Farayah conveyed Jordan's commitment to strengthening partnerships with Mediterranean coastal countries to address migration-related issues.

Farayah stated that Jordan encounters significant challenges due to its geopolitical location, particularly amid decades of political and security unrest in various regional countries, with a notable impact on border crossings. 

Jordan has received significant waves of refugees over the years and is currently hosting more than 1.3 million Syrians, along with tens of thousands of refugees from Iraq, Yemen, Sudan and other countries, Farayah said.

Highlighting the multiple burdens shouldered by Jordan, Farayah said that despite undertaking humanitarian duties on behalf of the international community, it has not received sufficient support for its response plan to the Syrian crisis, as the support, by the end of the third quarter, has not exceeded 20.9 per cent of the total cost associated with the Syrian presence in the country.

Jordan’s geopolitical position, security and political stability have made it a destination for large numbers of foreign workers, he said, highlighting that this influx has aggravated the problem of irregular migration and imposed additional strain on the Jordanian economy, already facing several challenges, primarily due to hosting a large number of refugees. 

This situation coincided with the weakness of voluntary return or resettlement of refugees in other countries, besides the underfunding of Jordan's response plan to the Syrian crisis, he said.

He added that the Jordanian government has implemented a number of policies to boost its economy, including facilitating entry for foreigners seeking tourism or medical services, however some have utilised these facilitations for the purpose of seeking asylum with the UNHCR, leading to what is known as "mixed migration". 

The government, represented by the Ministry of the Interior, has launched the Migration Governance project in cooperation with the EU and the International Centre for Migration Policy Development, he said.

The initiative aims to streamline migration data sources to ensure accurate numbers of foreigners in the Kingdom for evidence-based policymaking, he added.

Jordan, through its Ministry of Interior, joined the board of the MCP Med TI last year. The Kingdom's collaboration with the International Centre for Migration Policy Development led to the adoption of the Ministry of Interior's Green Building as a regional training centre.