June 5

Today a lot of light was shed on the Iraqi refugee situation and the Jordanian political arena. We visited two very different, independent NGOs in Amman, one the model of the 'homegrown' civil society organization that was talked about yesterday at the US Embassy, and the other a western-based, internationally known, humanitarian and advocacy organization. The former, MIZAN, provided a lot of insight into how Jordanians actually feel about the reform process underway through the current rhetoric and policies. Speaking with a lawyer who works pro bono to counsel and aid citizens and Iraqi refugees on their legal rights under the JO constitution, it became clear that while the rhetoric is admirable, the implementation of such policies and actual change on the ground is much slower. It seems that most Jordanians are quite unaware of their rights and that there is not much of a civil society, despite the safety and stability of Jordan that certainly made me thing it was otherwise. The NGO also worked to counsel Iraqi refugees (who were again deemed to be numbered around the 500K). The legal status of the Iraqis were attested to be indeed lacking in many guarantees, as most are now illegally here and unable to pay to overstay their visas and get work permits. In fact, the only legitimate rule of law to point to when trying to help Iraqi refugees is UNHCR codes, as there are not refugee laws and immigration laws show that most are illegal in the first place.



This was an important point that came up again when we went to CARE International and learned the more human side (via anecdotes and such) of what it means to be status-less in a country. This had a profound influence on, especially since we met an Iraqi refugee at the market the other day (UNHCR card and all) who did not seem to know where his family was and could only explain that he wanted to leave Jordan for America. He was 27 and selling vegetables. America has only taken in around 3k Iraqis into the US since the start of the war.

Today's interviews seemed on the outset to be most heavily beneficial for a few selected topics, but all of us certainly benefited from the experience. Through these interviews, and more informal ones that we have conducted throughout the past few days, an accurate picture of the issues that we're studying is really starting to come together.

As the weekend in Jordan is Friday/Saturday, we intend to start our cultural excursions with the Dead Sea tomorrow.