Iraqi Refugees in Jordan: Legal Perspective

Abstract

Jordan has traditionally been one of the regions most welcoming countries toward Iraqis. The country received several flows of Iraqis during the last four decades, but most of Iraqis residing in Jordan fled the precarious situation prevailing in Iraq following the U.S. –led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Jordan is not a party to the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refuges or the 1967 Protocol on Refugees, but Jordan cooperates with the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the implementation of a Memorandum of understanding signed between the two parties in 1998. The provisions of this Memorandum are in many aspects, similar to those of the 1951 Convention. The focus of this study is the legal aspects of the Iraqis residing in Jordan; and due to the scarcity of legal writing on the subject, it relies mainly on the legal texts, whether nationals or internationals, and to the Jordanian government positions and measures pertaining to this subject. The study has eight sections, they are as follows: Entry of foreigners to the country, numbers of Iraqis in Jordan, entry restrictions, Non-Iraqi refugees, mainly Palestinians arriving from Iraq, the right of asylum in Jordan, temporary Protection Regime, expulsion and "refoulement" of Iraqi refugees, and living conditions of Iraqis in Jordan.