Arab League commends Jordan's reception of Syrian refugees

Arab League Secretary General's envoy for humanitarian relief Sheikha Hessa Al-Thani commended Sunday Jordan's "active and humanitarian" role vis-a-vis the Syrian refugees and provision of aid for them. Sheikha Hessa made the remarks during a meeting with Jordanian ministers of Planning and International Cooperation, Social Development and Health. They discussed challenges facing Jordan resulted from influx of the Syrian refugees. The needs of Jordan to address these challenges will be referred to the Syria donors conference, due in Kuwait on January 15. Sheikha Hessa called upon the international community to support Jordan in order to overcome all difficulties related to the Syrian crisis. The Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation said in a statement the meeting was part of the Jordanian government's preparation for the Syrian donors conference. Minister of Social Development Reem Abu Hassan, according to the statement, talked about social consequences resulted from hosting hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees, rising poverty and unemployment in the areas hosting the refugees. Minister of Health Ali Hayasat said provision of free-of-charge health services for the Syrian refugees was causing a strain on Jordan's budget and health system in general. There are some 1.2 million Syrians in Jordan, half of them fled the fighting in their country and the rest used to live in Jordan before the Syrian conflict erupted in March 2011.