July 4, 2012 <\/p>\n
\u00a0(Geneva) \u2013 The Jordanian authorities have forcibly returned some newly arriving Palestinians from Syria<\/a> and threatened others with deportation, Human Rights Watch said today.Since April 2012, the authorities have also arbitrarily detained Palestinians fleeing Syria in a refugee holding center without any options for release other than return to Syria. The Jordanian authorities should treat all Palestinians from Syria seeking refuge in Jordan<\/a> the same as Syrian asylum seekers, who are allowed to remain and can move freely in Jordan after passing security screening and finding a sponsor. <\/p>\n In mid-June 2012, Human Rights Watch interviewed 12 Palestinians, including women and children, in Jordan. Like thousands of Syrians, they had entered Jordan without passing through an official border post, but unlike Syrians, they had been detained for months with no possibility of release. Three men said they or their brothers had been forcibly returned to Syria, while six men \u2013 three with families including small children \u2013 said they had been taken to the border and threatened with deportation although they were then allowed to stay in Jordan.<\/p>\n “To its credit, Jordan has allowed tens of thousands of Syrians to cross its borders irregularly and move freely in Jordan, but it treats Palestinians fleeing the same way differently,” said Gerry Simpson<\/a>, senior refugee researcher and advocate for Human Rights Watch. “All those fleeing Syria \u2013 Syrians and Palestinians alike \u2013 have a right to seek asylum in Jordan, move freely in Jordan, and shouldn’t be forced back into a war zone.”<\/p>\n Since April, Jordanian authorities have automatically detained all Palestinians who enter Jordan without passing through an official border post, without the possibility of release. No such policy exists for thousands of Syrians entering the same way.<\/p>\n The Palestinians are arriving under the same circumstances as the fleeing Syrians and should not face threats of forced return, Human Rights Watch said. None should be detained unless for compelling and legally prescribed reasons and for a limited period of time, with judicial review. Like Syrian refugees, Palestinians from Syria interviewed by Human Rights Watch in Jordan said they had fled the country due to violence and general insecurity in their home areas.<\/p>\n In response to questions about the forced return and threatened forced return of Palestinians to Syria, Dr. Sa’d al-Wadi al-Manasir, the general secretary of the Interior Ministry, told Human Rights Watch that Jordan had “not sent any Palestinians back, period” and that there had been “no threats of refoulement, period.” He also said that “if there was a ‘no entry policy’” that would be “different from sending them back” and that Jordan was “not preventing Palestinians with documents from coming in,” implying that Palestinians trying to enter without identity documents would be denied entry.<\/p>\n Palestinians contradicted these assertions, telling Human Rights Watch that they were deported to Syria from inside Jordan. Nine detained Palestinians told Human Rights Watch they had been deported, knew of relatives who had been deported, or had been taken with their families to the border by Jordanian Military Security, who ordered them at gunpoint to cross but relented after the families pleaded with them not to send them back to Syria. Others said they had spoken by phone to friends and relatives in Syria who said they knew of Palestinians who had been turned back by Jordanian security at the border for no stated reason.<\/p>\n Although Jordan has not signed or ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention, customary international refugee law and international human rights law requires it to respect the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits countries from sending anyone back to a country where their life or freedom would be threatened or where they would face a real risk of torture or inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment.<\/p>\n Human Rights Watch said that Jordan should extend its current policy of providing de facto temporary protection to Syrian “guests” to include Palestinian residents of Syria who are also fleeing the conflict there.<\/p>\n Under customary international law, asylum seekers cannot be forcibly returned to a place where they claim a fear of being persecuted unless that claim has been examined in a fair procedure and determined not to be well-founded. Asylum claims should be examined regardless of whether the asylum seeker carries valid travel and identity documents.<\/p>\n “There can be no excuse for deporting people to a situation where there is a real risk to their lives,” Simpson said. “The authorities should issue clear orders to security officials on the border to protect anyone crossing from Syria who is seeking asylum in Jordan.”<\/p>\n