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Syria: Refugees

Question for Department for International Development

UIN HL5541, tabled on 22 February 2017

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the recommendations in the report by the International Rescue Committee In search of work: Creating Jobs for Syrian Refugees: A Case Study of the Jordan Compact, published in February.

Answered on

3 March 2017

As Rory Stewart, Minister of State for International Development set out at the report’s launch, the Government welcomes this report which assesses progress made during the first year of the Jordan Compact and considers what more needs to be done to create employment for refugees and the host community. The Government commends the significant progress made by Jordan and international partners during implementation of the Compact: almost 40,000 work permits have been issued to Syrians in Jordan, critical financing agreements have been signed with the World Bank and IMF, and a comprehensive trade deal was signed between the EU and Jordan at impressive speed. But we recognise that more needs to be done to improve the design and implementation of the Compact particularly by learning from refugees own work experiences and the issues faced by women in search of safe and decent work. The forthcoming Brussels Conference, which the UK will co-host, provides a key opportunity to increase momentum and ambition on delivery of the Jordan Compact.