Ratio of Syrian beggars on steady rise since onset of refugee crisis — official

AMMAN — Almost 15 per cent of the beggars detained by the authorities so far in 2015 are from Syria, Social Development Ministry Spokesperson Fawaz Ratrout said on Wednesday.

Since 2011, he said, the year Jordan started hosting Syrian refugees; an average of 18 per cent of street beggars caught annually have been Syrians.

Before the crisis started in the neighbouring country, beggars apprehended on the street were of Yemeni, Egyptian, and Jordanian nationalities and even a Chinese citizen was once caught, according to Ratrout.

“The numbers of detained beggars has increased with time. In 2013, the Kingdom reported around 3,000 beggars; last year, authorities caught more than that, and this year, only up until October, there are almost 4,000 beggars in police custody,” the spokesperson told The Jordan Times in a phone interview.

Syrians constituted 20 per cent of apprehended vagrants in 2012, 18 per cent in 2013, and almost 20 per cent in 2014, Ratrout noted, adding that most of the caught Syrian beggars are spread in the capital and some are in the northern governorates.

He said street vendors near traffic lights are not included in the figures.

“The adults selling on streets are subject to other legal measures, while children who do the same thing are taken into custody and provided with the care and support needed.”

Jordan, now a temporary home for 1.4 million Syrians, is the third largest refugee-recipient country per capita in the world, according to official figures. 

A total of  629,627 Syrians are registered with the UNHCR, according to the agency’s latest figures, which indicate that 168,757 Syrian refugees are in Amman, while 154,744 are in Mafraq in the northeast and 139,708 are in Irbid, 80km north of Amman.

A total of 80,450 registered Syrian refugees are in Zarqa, some 22km east of Amman.

The Zaatari Refugee Camp is home to 79,284 Syrians, while 25,774 are in Azraq camp and 6,364 are in the Emirati-Jordanian Mreijeb Al Fhoud camp, according to UNHCR figures.