Tested at the Margins: the contingent rights of displaced Iraqi children in Jordan

The inalienable and universal character of children’s rights is asserted as a fundamental principle within the text of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (as it is within the Universal Declaration of Human Rights). Yet, our enquiry into the institutional response to Iraqi children seeking refuge in Jordan suggests that such a principle may be hard to uphold in practice. The realisation of children’s basic rights is, instead, contingent upon changing circumstance, most notably: the availability and allocation of funding, the disposition of agencies and individual staff members, and the fluctuating attitude of the host state authorities. Due to their non-citizen status Iraqi children in Jordan lack the institutional support necessary to assure them, as a matter of course, the basis for safety and wellbeing.