 Good morning, everybody and welcome to the second day of the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa Here at the banks of the Dead Sea in Jordan the situation of the refugees in the region is The topic of this press conference a welcome to everybody here in the room and also welcome to our audience on the live stream it is fair to say that the crisis the refugee crisis the region is experiencing is at unprecedented levels and and You will see throughout the program today kicking off with this press conference That is an important topic on the agenda of the World Economic Forum here, and I'm very pleased to have this Very distinct panel with us today, which is in this very morning moment completed. Thank you for joining us as well To my immediate left I'm joined by Elaine Weidmann Brunewald She's the vice president for sustainability and corporate responsibility of Ericsson Next to her We're joined by Mark Schnellbecker, who's the regional director and Syria crisis response for the International Rescue Committee Further down the line. We're pleased to be joined today by Andrew Harper who's the Jordan representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for refugees and Last but definitely not least we're joined by Ahmad Al Hanandei who is the chief executive officer of sign here in Jordan thank you for joining us today and Without further ado, I'll hand over to you. Mr. Harper You are the representative of UNHCR here in Jordan and in the region. Please give us an update on the situation I'm tempted to say how bad is it, but I'll ask you to give us a briefing there. Thank you Okay, thank you very much and I think it's also critically important to recognize The the symbolism of involving refugees in the World Economic Forum because Refugees are a stakeholder They are an important influencer and they're not going to be going away anytime soon in the Middle East and North Africa So we have to take them very much into account It's as you quite rightly noted. We're facing unprecedented level of displacement It just seems too easy to sort of say unprecedented level. If anything, it's terrifying We're seeing numbers which no one could have ever dreamt of appearing in the Middle East. We're seeing over half of Syria's population affected and That level is going to increase rather than decrease We're seeing borders not only in the region but further afield restricting access to safety We're not only seeing national borders restricting access for refugees to flee the violence. We're also seeing increasing attempts by states to restrict internal movement and This is forcing people into increasing poverty and increasing despair We can rattle off any numbers that you wish to because They're just that they're enormous. They're almost beyond belief that when you start talking about 12 million Syrians in need of support 8 million who are internally displaced almost 4 million who are who are refugees Millions more inside Iraq are in need like what what are the numbers mean? But each each each one of these as human beings each one of these are just trying to survive protect their family get the kids into school make sure the family is healthy and Maintain the dignity and this is all basically being destroyed and so if we're talking about economic progress As under pinning stability and security in the region. We have to address these underlying Areas of disruption and we also have to address the underlying Vulnerabilities of the people who have been so adversely affected We're not going to see a change anytime soon With the with the increasing level of violence the the destruction What we knew or the Middle East five six seven years ago in some aspects has changed irreparably But what we have to do now is is find ways in which we can prevent the violence the extremism the radicalization from perpetuating even increased violence and destruction and we have to start looking at how we can make the most of the refugees and to Restart their lives The refugees in the region and further afield are not going to be able to go home anytime soon Not in the next days next weeks next months So in that context, how do we rather seeing them as as challenges or burdens? How do we also see them as opportunities? How do we see them as human beings? How do we how do we treat refugees as you'd like to be treated and that is each one of you? Just want to protect your family each one of you just want to provide for your family Maintain your dignity, but it's not just about ourselves as well. It's also that we need to be able to provide for our communities The refugees are skilled. They're educated and They can actually contribute and I'm focusing on this element because we are talking about the World Economic Forum and to be a miss To just see refugees and migrants as liabilities you'll probably not find anyone who's more enthusiastic and Dedicated to provide for their family to work hard To work conscientiously and with the skills to be transferred. We've also got to invest in the future as well People sort of saying we don't want to have a lost generation some aspects. We already have The question then is how to mitigate the the next generations if you've been out of school As I as I believe there's at least 600,000 Syrian refugees, but if you take into account what's happening in Syria you're talking millions and if you're out of school for a year or two years, it's extremely unlikely that you're going to be able to go back and This then creates the potential for a downward spiral of or despair vulnerability and potential exploitation Also when we're talking about refugees And people sort of say we're like we need to focus on the families and the communities to mitigate attempts at exploitation or extremism or Influenced by radicalization. What if the family has already been destroyed? What if families have been split? What if communities have been split and destroyed? So we have to think differently and this is not just a regional question because it's too easy for many Western states Or Gulf states to say look we're providing 10 million 20 million a hundred million dollars to aren't to Jordan or Lebanon or elsewhere This is this is completely inappropriate to what we're being faced with here when turkeys provide something like seven billion dollars worth of direct support to refugees when Jordan has been providing billions of dollars Billions of dollars, which it doesn't have Sharing scarce water, which it doesn't have scarce resources, which it doesn't have it It means that the countries which are providing The asylum space who have been so generous in their tradition of providing shelter to people to people fleeing violence They've been taken for granted because the international community is not grasping the full extent of what is occurring and the dangers that could follow if they do not invest properly so This is not a a crisis that can just be addressed by the UN for instance or the government or by the private sector It is it is a crisis which everyone has to come together and say how do we? address what is a completely Horrific situation the situation which has appears to have no end But in order also to protect the most fundamental human rights of those people who have been affected due to no fault of their own Thank You Andrew. I think as you said the situation really is terrifying and It is clearly one of the most pressing if not the most pressing issues in the region now The World Economic Forum and you mentioned that everybody has to come to the table to work on this is an international institution for Public-private cooperation, so it's no surprise that we are joined by Representatives of the private sector today. However, I'll still put that question to you Elaine What can be the role of the private sector and what is what is your company Ericsson doing to help in this case? I Would say that I mean with the backdrop that was just painted I mean the role of the private sector has been pretty underutilized. I think in in the world of humanitarian response and having participated in divorce one thing that Stuck in my mind that that came out of the the World Economic Forum there was that Today there are there are more Conflicts in the world today than ever in the history of humankind and I think that's a pretty overwhelming Statement if you think about it and it's not just the Syrian conflict. It's it's things Whether it's a natural disaster or or a conflict if you look at what's happening in Nepal and many other parts of the world so I would say that Andrew talked about looking at refugees as challenges and burdens and or Stereotype around that. I think there's quite a lot of Solutions that that companies can can bring to the discussion. I think often Companies are looked at as a source of you know Charity or donations, but I think probably the more important role that we can play from the private sector and in our case from Ericsson side Being a technology company is bringing some of the knowledge and the skills and the resources that we have in terms of technology and staff into addressing some of these conflicts and and really I think that in the future these types of Public-private partnerships are going to be the the model that will be needed in order to to start to meaningfully address and solve some of these challenges You have the All the statistics around refugees from from the different experts on the panel I'd like to put a few technology statistics out there if you look at how Telecommunication and ICT has developed it took basically a hundred years to connect a billion people It took roughly I would say 25 years to connect 5 billion places and in over a 25-year period there will be going through 2020 There will be 50 billion connected devices so the pace of change has never been faster yet at the same time I think there's a gap between Effective policy and being able to leverage the technology that exists today and in 2015 There will be more mobile subscriptions on the planet than there are people this in 2015 That that number will be surpassed and I think that There is no other technology in the world today that has scaled Like the mobile industry in a way that can bring economic growth that can bring social and financial Inclusion and that can give people a voice to be part of the broader world So those are some of the statistics you could say in the private sector side And I would say the challenge is to know what partners to leverage and how to leverage that incredible Deployment of infrastructure that's out there and in this case in the refugee context There's a couple of initiatives that I would like to mention though that we work on from Erickson side I would say the most basic when it comes to refugees is you know around basic connectivity I personally started to engage in the refugee issue in 2007 and we worked with UNHCR in Uganda and some other partners to put up a mobile tower in northern Uganda on the border to South Sudan in a place called Ajimani We put up a mobile tower and it was subsidized by Erickson and the mobile operator there And we didn't really know how would this impact, you know on the lives of refugees there and after one week of that tower Being up it was over capacity the need to communicate was so great that Even in this remote place where no one you know, there wasn't a lot of hope Nobody thought that people would even have phones every refugee had phones They all had phones and they all needed to communicate and find family and missing loved ones And so that was 2007 fast forward to today. You have social media You have all the ways of communicating and you know incredible platforms of being able to bring people together and in one program we Recently launched together with Zayn here in Jordan, but but also in Turkey and Iraq is a Program called refugees United. It's a basic mobile platform where Refutes refunite.org where anyone can register if they're searching. It's a basic Search and match program and find missing family and loved ones and the thing about that program It's really about awareness and knowing that it exists. There's about 400,000 refugees registered today on the platform and so It's grown over time when when Erickson started to engage in that there was about 10,000 and it wasn't mobile so we worked with this NGO to help them bring their their idea to a mobile environment and Today we've done over a thousand real reconnections. So it's it's just it's the most low-tech basic thing you could do It's SMS and USST. It's just one example another thing we've been working with is is education and looking at how to Through mobile broadband bring in education into to low-income and very Rural or urban environments looking how to use cloud technology to to improve access to education and We work a lot with that especially for girls and with a focus on gender And and I'd say the the last example I give is is our program around emergency response We've been working for 15 years on helping the UN and the emergency telecom cluster and in places like Nepal where we have five People on the ground today helping to put up emergency telecom in order to enable You know the communication that's so vital So those are just a few examples from from Erickson side of how we see Technology and how the private sector can play a role and it's not done with the mentality of of charity or philanthropy It's done with a mentality of what is our core business and how can we apply it to this specific problem? Thanks Thank you Elaine for sharing these insights now Ahmed Jordan has been historically a host country for refugees and this is again Right in the middle of the of this crisis if you will you are the the CEO of a Jordan of a Jordan company What is your perspective? Elaine mentioned a cooperation with Erickson and saying but please tell us what do you think? What what can you do on the ground here? Thank you? Thank you very much. Good morning everybody And thank you for for having this session to discuss such an important issue I'll just be focused on on how technology is Helping into the refugees issues According to the UNHCR latest Number that we have seen on registered refugees in Jordan. We have around 627 registered with UNHCR According to the UNHCR website I believe Jordan hosts more than a million Syrian refugees some of them most of them are unregistered Refugees they don't live in camps or not registered with UNHCR Talking about refugees. They're here. I agree with UNHCR. They're here to stay. I don't think they're gonna leave any soon And we cannot ignore now the basic needs of of humans Keeping their fact that their refugees on the side where they need education They need Jobs that secures income for them. They need to they need entertainment and they need to receive Their a way to receive their funds especially for those who are staying in the camps an easy way of getting the funds and spending this fund Of course with the technology available in Jordan with with the evolvement of the Telecommunication And data services across the world it becomes Easier to provide services for the refugees and to come up with initiatives that can help refugees In a better way and in an efficient way so according to a study done for the Syrian refugees in Lebanon for example and when the refugees were asked to know how do you Deal with with technology and what is it in the technology that you're using so much They they use the SMS news service so they know what's happening in their own country They use the the call centers and hotlines and I believe with the UNHCR there was an initiative where they launched We were we were happy to to to be partner with UNHCR on this to launch a hotline in the call center for the Syrian refugees in Jordan They use the they they need internet and most of the refugees Seeks an access to the internet. I agree with Elena social platforms Access to social platforms became an necessity for those people because this is the only way that they can connect to the relatives to their home country They can know what's going around So they need an internet access and we realize that you know There has to be Places where they can go and connect to internet like internet cafes within the camps or hot spot zones within the camps They need mobile phones. I agree again with Elena. Most of them need have already on mobile phones And they need access to applications that allows them to Communicate with their with their with with each other with their relatives back home or with their relatives anywhere else in the world There is a study on the on the on the access to technology 14% of the refugees Did not have access to mobile phone. That means 86% do have access to mobile phones 40% of those having access to mobile phone. They actually own a Smartphone and when we say a smart phone, you know, a smart phone is from 70 JD is up to 700 up to thousand out of up to 700 JD's phone So I'm not talking, you know, they're having a sophisticated smart phone, but they have a phone that could that give them access to internet 14% of those could not make calls because they don't have money to pay for the for the call and that's where the call center Initiative was so important allow them to to make call when they don't have credit Menus of the mobile phone was to receive calls sending and receiving SMS's And very few takes photos and share it over social media very few What's up is an application that they depend on in general those of With the higher education prefer SMS while the direct calls are preferred in the less educated population 66% of the people interviewed stated it would be extremely useful to receive aid Information on their aid information on their mobile phones and that's what I believe UNHCR is trying to promote here in Jordan so It's so many statistics that that's going on We tried as Zayn Jordan as a technology provider here in Jordan to to to make most of what they need according to the statistics and studies available We had some initiatives some with UNHCR others with the Believe with the with the honor We are working on the mobile money payments for the refugees We're trying to help in the camps as much as possible. We made the access to telecommunication services as affordable as possible We made the access to internet as affordable as possible and a successful Example of how technology can help in such cases is what we did with erection as well and refugee United were Without the technology platform and without the easy access to the technology platform It could not have been done refugees United With erection signed with Zayn and we activated the service and the beauty of this service No, it does not need the access to internet. It can be done over a SSD service, which is similar to an SMS That makes it easy to register and then its refugees United rule to to try to find their Relatives or counterparties anywhere else in the world and then connect them both together which is a fantastic initiative I think and With the numbers that after the mobile operators got involved in the numbers that Refugees United managed to The increase they managed to achieve in the registered cases It's too big in Jordan. We're gonna speak to the UN Organization, especially the NHCR address them and know how we can promote this to the Syrian refugees here in Jordan In Jordan, of course, they're very close to their home country. They're on the border with their home country They're even using their phones. Usually they call their home country back Where the rates for calling him country is not too expensive but still This would be an excellent platform for them to use and connect to Their relatives whom they don't know where where they where they actually are and we're looking more This is basically when it comes to refugees and How we can utilize the technology platform to help refugees Of course, the partnerships is extremely important The partnership with Ericsson and Refugees United got us here to speak about this initiative We had the successful partnerships with the UNHCR In providing Telecommunication solutions to the to the refugees but that that tells you know how important is the value of private public Semi-public Partnerships and and what can comes out of it? It's important to have private private partnership and public public partnership as well. So Of course, this is a challenge the refugees file in Jordan is a big challenge. It's a big challenge for the government It's a big challenge for the community Hosting community is extremely important and that's why we got an initiative That that has to do with the development with certain development projects in the hosting community of the refugees And this is very important. We cannot ignore that they they they live in in the Jordanian community that also needs help at the end of the day So that's what I have to say for today. I'm sorry if I have taken longer than what I showed Thank you Ahmed I think with the importance of the topic it's fine if we if we run over a little bit But let's let's go full circle mark. You're representing the the NGO sector here You're the regional director for the for the International Rescue Committee. So you do a lot of work on the ground I Have two questions for you a tell us a bit about your work and be we have not just the two business Representatives here on the panel, but we have hundreds of CEOs also in the conference center if you could Let's say I'm the fairy and I give you a wish what you would you be your wish to these CEOs? What would you your call be? Would you say what can they do? What would help? Thank you. Well, maybe thank you. Maybe I'll set it up by by saying that a lot of us who work in this field and many colleagues in UNHCR and other organizations in the humanitarian field are are really concerned that the system that has served refugees Pretty well for the last 50 or 60 years is really straining and buckling under the pressure You've heard a couple of people say that Syrians are likely to be here for a long time Worldwide the average duration of force displacement is 17 years Worldwide so a system that was built up to be an emergency response system to help people as they're fleeing conflict is Now being asked to look after people for decades The system itself which relied largely on local governments and local communities to bear To bear the great majority of the burden and the cost assisted by international organizations like like UNHCR and Private humanitarian agencies like international rescue committee We can no longer do this by ourselves and the case with Syrian refugees. I think is is particularly illustrative of that so the time is now that we've got to think differently about how Everybody works together to try to respond to a problem that that is growing and so Whereas I think you know ten for the last ten years or so the involvement of the private sector Whether in so it's consulting companies or ICT companies has been an innovative sideline Of a lot of the work that we do it seems to me that now it needs to be brought much more into the into the mainstream and The private sector becomes a full partner just like the UN specialized agencies working with local governments and organizations like my own in a new tripartite partnership to try to deal with some of these problems Because I agree with the assessment unfortunately Syrians Will not have the opportunity to go home for a long time and yet They have a lot to contribute and they also have a lot of needs. I Think specifically the ICT We call it ICT for programs. It's become sort of a sub sector of specialization in our in our field We have colleagues who work in this field now They it's really helping us to Do humanitarian action in a more responsive and a more effective and a more accountable way and More importantly than that. I think is that it's also Provides the opportunity a growing opportunity for the people we serve to have information and access to information That they can use to improve their situations. So it's not just to benefit and make us more efficient and effective it also has opportunities for allowing You talked about dignity of refugees and to restore some of the autonomy that people who are refugees lose by dint of their Force displacement for example IRC is now developing in in Lebanon Something we call service info, which is basically Yelp for refugees. It's a online platform where service providers Can can register themselves refugees can use their mobile phones to find out who what clinic is in my area providing What services at what hour and more importantly then after they use a service or buy something from a tradesman They can go back on in rate Did I receive timely assistance at that clinic? Did they treat me well? Do I feel like? They gave me the right diagnosis or whatever so the people can actually We can create a feedback loop and we can create opportunities for beneficiary feedback Because many things many of us who work in this field and certainly many refugees feel the lack of autonomy Is a is a huge loss. So anything like this Service info that can restore some of that autonomy is is Most welcome Secondly, we operate in side Syria from the neighboring countries Completely by remote management. This is a new way of operating for us We normally are able to go and do product program monitoring program needs assessments with our own staff Here it's all by fly by wire from around from the surrounding countries So we need to develop new ways to be sure that you know Are we responding to the correct needs is stuff? We're sending in getting to where it's meant to be in the light So we've worked with a couple of freight companies like the DHL and FedEx and Aramax to develop a similar Tracking system for commodities using QR codes and whatnot which helps us greatly enhance our ability to Assure ourselves and assure our owners that this stuff is not being Pilferter or picked up by people who shouldn't be getting their hands on it Inside Syria, we're also using tablets and mobile platforms to do needs assessment and and beneficiary Reporting on the server on service utilization We just basically beam it up to the cloud it gets immediately downloaded and then the tablet erases itself Because people are very concerned about that kind of information falling. This is all in war zones People are very concerned about that kind of information falling into Hands we'd rather not a seafall and we'd rather not see it fall into so this is another way we're able to Improve our our targeting and and response of this. We have a global agreement with Ericsson that in this region in northern Iraq We're working with their connect to learn program where which is providing teacher training and a Suite of curriculum materials that supplement the work We're doing in primary and secondary schools both in camps and and outside of camps in In northern Iraq So those are just some of the examples of things that we've been able to do that that both improve Our ability to get at concerns and needs that refugees themselves have expressed and it And and it allows us to to to make sure that refugees are Able to feed back to us what they think about what we're doing So while certainly corporate philanthropy is welcome and needed in the traditional sense As I started with I think we we need more than that actually we need corporate expertise Whether it's technical expertise or your business processes. This needs to be brought more fully into Humanitarian action And I think we're starting to get at that as we get to know each other because it is two different organizational cultures between the Humanitarian and the private sector, but we do have a lot of shared shared interests and and there is a lot of room to work so it's time to speed it up Precisely because the situation we're facing is getting is getting more desperate. Thank you. Thank you mark Let's open the floor for questions We have a microphone in the back if you could state your name and organization for the sake of our online audience Especially we have a gentleman in the front here Thank you very much. I'm right This question is that is there like any political or security limitations Handring your office and sending technological service to refugees in the camps and The second the course and maybe Mr. Harper can answer me that maybe at the time that international relief agencies are suffering from budget deficit and To the point that they can't send food to refugees Can they talk about sending or providing refugee camps with technologies be seen at luxury? Thank you, and we had another gentleman also in the front row here. Thank you I Need to add from orient television. I want to ask you ask mr. Harper about electricity and Zaatari camp and Many people many refugees called us and Last two weeks and they said that there is no electricity at all in Zaatari camp since four months Also on people from Azra camp they said there is no electricity how we can deal with technology and community Okay, thank you So Elena would hand the first question over to you on the political constraints of reaching the refugees I think when it comes to Syria, I mean Eric's and we're in 180 countries and Syria was of course one of the countries We have been in but it's due to the political security all the things you mentioned I would say it's very difficult to maintain and build mobile networks there today. You have sanctions applying to Syria for companies and then For companies where other non sanction companies like MTN. I know that they struggle quite a bit to Keep the network up and running. So it's in from Eric's inside We have most of our employees now working from surrounding countries. We can't really Maintain the the base there. So I would say sick. Yeah almost impossible to work from a commercial point of view right now Elena, can I because his question is purely Jordanian question And and it's related to the political influence in refugees accessing technology No, Syrians have access to technology from day one. They entered Jordan and We get all the help possible to make sure that we have the whole camps are covered fully covered with the full access to technology and I don't think politics interfere at any point of time in this matter Thank you Andrew, please. I think I'll probably be talking a little bit now on all these issues. I think Going back to The question whether the technology is essential or is it a is it a luxury? We're now 2015 technology is a need. You can't survive in this world without it It is it accesses Goods it accesses services. It allows people to keep in contact with with everyone around them and It's part of the reason why UNHCR is working so closely with everyone from Zayn to Iris Guard to to every private entity because We need it to survive We now use Registration using biometrics where we can check within a second four million records So that cuts down on the potential for fraud if you can cut down on the potential for fraud increases credibility increases trust So that allows us to to work more effectively in any country That we work in Jordan being the prime example here. You still have to abide by the laws and regulations Zayn can't go out and do something which which is against the law same with UNHCR So we work very closely with our communications partners and with the with the government departments to make sure that what we're doing is Not going against their interests because we also have to take into account that this is a pretty insecure part of the world And that there are valid reasons for some of the restrictions which are being put in place that being said if Jordan was not a An enabling location for technology. We would not have moved our information support hub from Geneva to here That was that was an investment of millions of dollars We would also not have been successful in it in implementing a number of innovations here Which are now being replicated around the world and includes the call center Which we developed with Zayn and Cisco systems And we've also the biometrics with Iris guard, which is another system. So across the board we are actually Leading the way in using technology and communications to improve the well-being of refugees, but not only the well-being of refugees We also have to be much more accountable For what we do for every dollar that I spend I have to make sure it's it's not being wasted Because that could be a dollar that could be used better off to help a refugee. So we're using Technology to improve our transparency Our communications our efficiency our effectiveness, but bottom one. We're using it to protect refugees Because the amount of money being made available for refugees is decreasing So that means we have to leverage whatever money we do have to improve the efficiency and effectiveness And we're doing that. So just this week and for people who see me on Twitter We released ten million dollars worth of assistance to Probably about a hundred thousand refugees in Jordan including sixty thousand children. The overhead for that was less than one percent I dare anyone of you to try and give me an example where you can deliver assistance or any product For less than one percent to the to the end recipient in this case It's refugees and that was by using smart systems like SMS So we we've got an agreement with that with Zayn so they we can send out mass distributions We inform refugees to go to the Coral Man Bank who've got iris guard Systems in place so they can access it without in engaging us We don't want refugees to come to UNHCR to line up like as if they're They're that we're in a position of power and they're in a position of weakness We want refugees to to be normal people and that is a normal person goes to a bank to get money out They do not go to IRC or to UNHCR to beg for something And so we have to change the whole mentality of how we treat refugees and this is just one way which we're doing it So it's not only the luxury it is it's an issue of an essential element of how we have to look at Dealing with refugees in the future electricity and Azra is archery camp simple one element is Is technology again and private partnerships? We don't have enough money to pay everyone's electricity bill Simple as that so when you have a refugee camp and many refugee camps and we'll do not have electricity So with Zartree we provided electricity But it was costing seven hundred eight hundred thousand dollars a month Is anyone here? Believe that donors are willing to pay me seven to eight hundred thousand dollars a month to give electricity to refugees. Nope So JD. Oh, no, this is dollars. It was about five hundred thousand 450,000 five hundred thousand JDs so and So we have to make sure that refugees also value what is being provided to them So we're trying to manage the system in in Zartree and what was happening then was as soon as we put in the electricity The transformers would be blown because everyone be put putting the heaters on so we at electricity will be Re-instituted in Zartree, but it'll be managed. It'll be meted and people will be accountable for it because for those people have been Zartree you would have seen all the private sector. This is a good example private sector They were benefiting from it and why you may have vulnerable so we're not so it's got to be better managed in Azra We're working with IKEA foundation Who will hopefully provide support for a solar farm there? So because we can provide electricity, but it's like water when we provide water and electricity to a refugee camp Where do we get that from? We get it from Jordan and so you're taking it from the national grid Everything that we do should be giving back to Jordan or contributing to Jordan And so I could hook up the electricity grid in Azra to the national grid But you're withdrawing it from Azra town and from Muff Ruck and elsewhere What we should be doing is investing in renewable sustainable energy So refugees are not taking but they're giving and so inshallah when they can go back to Syria There's something left for the population there So this is also why I'm saying that we need to be looking in a long-term perspective Looking at long-term investments, which will not only help cut the costs in the short term for refugees But will help Jordan in the long term and as you see from some of the announcements in Jordan over the last couple weeks Jordan is now I think the largest Has got the largest partnership with private sector solar engagement anywhere in the Middle East of North Africa This is something which is proud of in which we in the humanitarian sector should all also be investing it so moving away from oil Fossil-based fuels into things which actually help the country help the economy help the environment and help most importantly refugees Thank you I think we have Time for the last two questions here that the gentleman on the left and the lady in the front are mindful of the schedule Off our panelists Please make it a short question. Thank you and I represent media quest from Dubai I have two questions. So one is you know, we see this sort of conflation between the refugee crisis and terrorism with I mean reports of some ISIL recruits jumping ship to Italy and so on So how does that compound the problem of people working on refugees and the second one is essentially a sort of donor fatigue setting in when it comes to Protracted crisis crises like the ones being witnessed in Syria. So how do you? address that thank you and the lady in the front here, let's take the question These are done it for a monitor and venture magazine So you were all saying that the refugees are gonna stay for a long time here in the country There's one thing they are prevented from working. So in the long run, this is not gonna be sustainable because I mean We're we've been talking about donor fatigue as well There's not enough money to provide them all with financial aid and at a certain point These people feel the need of working especially if they are meant to be here for a long time how you're gonna Tackle this problem, especially because then the large majority of Syrians who work here work in the informal sector And these could provoke also distortion to the local market. Thanks. Thank you very much What would like to take the question? Zane I Think yeah, but it's a tough question. Yeah, the but they can all be answered The security situation as we discussed beginning has never been sort of seen this bad before in the region and and extremist groups such as As we what ISIS is representing a threat not into the region, but to the wider wide area What the immediate impact of that is that there's been an increase in refugees fleeing from those areas and so in the last Let's say last eight months They were probably the number one reason why people were fleeing to Jordan and probably elsewhere because of The advance of ISIS rather than from government bombing The humanitarian imperative has now been overwhelmed replaced by security imperative And the security narrative so previously it was very much about Providing support to refugees the vulnerability. How do we protect women and children? It's now ISIS and We have to be careful in regards to Not mixing them up and this it's very easy to have a default setting that Everyone who comes from an area which could be under the influence of of radical groups is a member of those radical groups But what refugees are is that they're fleeing these groups It's not to say that we should not strengthen reinforce do whatever is necessary to ensure that everyone who comes into a country of asylum is security screened but Security screening does not mean Closing down the border and that's one of the reasons why we also invest in technology Because we need to ensure that governments like Jordan's security apparatus here in Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and elsewhere Have got the confidence in our registration ability to ensure that we can check who is who and that they don't change IDs and other types of documents, so it makes it more challenging But it also raises the bar of how we have to deliver and makes it more even more critical for us to be investing in everything from biometrics Faced recognition. I was checking And being much more accountable for what's going on. The other element is donor fatigue Certainly, this is becoming a protracted crisis and as Elaine was saying before as well. There's never been so many conflicts without an apparent end and We're seeing also Hundreds of thousands of people fleeing across the Mediterranean increasing Concern about security, but what we say is like there's too much money being spent on reaction There's been very little being spent on prevention and the first day of the the World Economic Forum here I was I was privileged to be part of some of the the groups looking at radicalization extremism and There's so many causes. There's never one cause for why somebody may may join the extremist group or become radicalized but What we're seeing is no money being given to any of them and We need to be sort of looking back to sort of see how can we address these root causes the triggers for people to to move across because I think the last count there was Jihad is from 70 to 80 countries in Syria. Well Yeah, poverty is poverty is one of the issues, but it's not the only issue and what we need to be looking at is trying to find out How can we get people who are? part of the already illegal Employment system to be part of the regular employment system. Don't force them underground So you don't know where they are don't force them into Into poverty or where they can be potentially exploited or where they're forced to go back into Syria We need to make sure that those people who are in Syria who are in Jordan can contribute to the economy in Jordan and Can be regulated and that they can use the skills and they can provide support to their families They can provide support to the communities and they maintain the dignity. So but Thank you very much Jordan and just on the job spot and just make it clear for you in Jordan I mentioned at the beginning that registered refugees with the UNHCR getting aid is 627,000 while senior refugees in Jordan exceeds 1 million and it's 1.2 or 1.3 million Which means there is a big number of them who are not getting aids actually they're living in Jordan they're working in Jordan and They compete on on jobs and this is one of the challenges that we face in Jordan because we have a high unemployment rate That Syrians are competing on the Jordanian jobs. I like talking about people living in the camps. You're talking about kids They cannot work. We're talking about all people They cannot work and you're talking about women Maybe uneducated unskilled lepers where the number of jobs available for them within the community They are in is not it's not too big. They created Job opportunities for themselves within the camp. You have to create the economy within the camp as well So but some of them they already have their own shops. They do their own trades And they created some sort of income for themselves within the camp. It's a community of For example in Zaatari, it's a community of around hundred thousand people How many are kids and old people who cannot actually work and how many who are actually eligible to be to work I believe entrepreneurship Or start-up businesses or some sort of these initiatives within the camp can can help a little bit But there are some jobs created for the senior refugees. Okay, and they do have some jobs here. Thank you Ahmed I think we're already running over time and as I mentioned Initially the conversation will be going on throughout the day about the refugee situation It will continue in the other be a TV session later today and because our panelists have to be there I have to cut you off here. Sorry. Thank you very much for joining the panel Thank you for watching us online and thank you for your questions. Thank you