‘Germany to continue its political, financial support to UNRWA’

AMMAN — Germany will continue to provide UNRWA with political and financial support, said Bärbel Kofler, the federal government commissioner for human rights policy and humanitarian aid.

In a German embassy statement sent to The Jordan Times, Kofler described the US’ decision to withdraw funding for UNRAW as threatening “additional destabilisation in an already volatile region — Jordan alone has 2.3 million Palestinian Refugees”.

Kofler’s remarks came during a meeting with the Foreign Ministry’s senior officials in which she pledged that Berlin would continue assisting Jordan given its humanitarian support to Syrian refugees. 

“First and foremost, I want to pay tribute to Jordan’s efforts to care for the refugees from Syria, so I visited projects in Amman that focus on social cohesion and young people’s access to education and work. Jordan still needs international support given the refugee situation, and we — the German federal government — are ready to do our part. “

During a separate meeting with her Jordanian counterpart, Basel Tarawneh, Kofler said she was pleased that His Majesty King Abdullah had submitted a Master Plan for 2025 to improve the human rights situation in Jordan, the statement said.

Kofler has raised other issues during her meetings with government officials such as the rights of guest workers and women. On the subject of women’s rights, Kofler said: “I was able to find out first-hand about the role of women in the country during a visit to a women’s shelter. I was particularly impressed by the commitment with which my interlocutors strive to protect women from acts of violence and honour killings. “

The German Human Rights Commissioner expressed concern over the use of the death penalty and, like other states and the European Union had previously done, called for an end to executions, according to the statement.