The number of Syrian refugees registered in Jordan has surpassed 14,000, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said Tuesday, while officials warned that an ongoing funding shortfall placed regional relief efforts at risk, according to dpa. The UNHCR Jordan office said in a weekly report that it had recorded 7,500 Syrian refugees in the month of April, with another 2,500 being processed - more than double the entire number registered between March 2011 and February 2012. The vast majority of Syrians in Jordan - some 73 per cent - originate from Daraa and Homs, according to the report, while half of registered refugees are children. UN officials say that registrations are unrepresentative of the total number of Syrians in need residing in Jordan, which relief agencies place at 30,000. The spike in registrations comes amid a "dramatic" influx of Syrians into Jordan, which has reached an average of some 100 individuals per day, according to relief agencies. Meanwhile, the UNHCR has yet to fulfill an 84-million-dollar regional aid appeal launched in March, a shortfall officials warn is placing the continuation of services "at risk." According to a UN official who spoke on condition of anonymity, the failure of donor countries to fulfill their commitments may force the agency to "indefinitely suspend" some services, notably cash assistance, to vulnerable Syrian families in Jordan. Jordan follows an open border policy, hosting more than 110,000 Syrians since Damascus' military crackdown on pro-democracy protests began in March 2011.
