Reports | 25 05 2020
Syrian refugee waits for a call from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), to hear news about his settlement in a new homeland.
Iqbal Al Zoubi and hundreds of Syrian refugees in Jordan are waiting after they registered in the resettlement program which allows them to settle down in a third country other than their original and the country of residence. The responsible for the program are the UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration "IOM".
But this wait may be prolonged indefinitely. "We are still waiting for an alternative homeland, they called me a year ago and a half and interviewed me and said that my file is ready for the International Organization for Migration now, and 6 months ago they called me and said you have a jury interview in the International Organization for Migration and the result was a suspension, and I have heard that the duration of suspension of between three months up to 7 years". Says Iqbal.
Pre-Migration questions
Refugees who are going to conduct an interview with the IOM, have to face many questions by those in charge of the organization- what are the questions?
Thaer Thali, a Syrian refugee in Jordan, contacted by IOM in October 2014, in order to move to the United States, and have been interviewed many times throughout that year.
He explains: "The first interview was approximately 8 hours, the questions varied greatly between the personal life, military questions, and my revolutionary activities, they asked me about my detention. In general, it was very in-depth questions, on 10/05/2015, a year after the first contact, but the result was a suspension of the file. "
Mohammad Al Zoubi has bypassed all the stages of interviews throughout the year and a half, and he described the last interview with "IOM", as a determination of fate.
"The last interview is an interview with jurors that we have heard much about it, and that makes you feel nervous before getting to the interview, where it conducted by a US investigator, we entered the interview and knew that it determines our own destiny, where the juror asks external questions in order to confuse you" says Mohamed.
What is the resettlement project?
A spokesman for (UNHCR), Muhamad Hawari, told Rozana that the resettlement is a project out of many projects of the UNHCR and "IOM". In order to deport them to another country where they can live.
As for the method of selecting the refugees, says Hawari: "The Commission nominates the refugees’ names within certain criteria, such as the need for education, health and treatment" explaining that the issue of suspending files caused due to the policy of host countries.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Jordan says that it had sent 45.729 message to refugees inquiring about their willingness to travel to Canada, 15. 647 out of them were called to the interviews, while a list of 11.005 refugees was presented to the Canadian authorities.
It is worth mentioning that Canada had received 8.040 Syrian refugees came from Jordan, as part of the "resettlement" program.