The article, 'Jordan's Quiet Emergency', examines the burden that Jordan bears as host to more than a million refugees and asylum seekers from surrounding conflicts in the region, and asks how this can be managed in the long term.
The article states that after being registered and brought to either the Za'atari or Azraq camp, more than 80 percent of Syrian refugees then leave, moving to urban areas along with non-Syrian refugees. Dawn Chatty says: 'People, even as refugees, still want and need to have some agency over how they cope and manage their lives.'
Commenting on whether it would help if refugees were given the right to formal employment in Jordan, Professor Chatty adds: 'When people can work, they cope better...They provide for families better. They’re far better psychosocially. They’ve got to work, as a positive coping strategy if nothing else.'
Related content
Dawn Chatty
Refugees from Syria: Transitional Justice and Reconcilliation
Refugee Economies: Rethinking Popular Assumptions
