2023-05-02 19:14:11
► Have Syrian refugees become undesirable in neighboring countries?
More than twelve years after the start of the war in Syria, the question of return ” deliberate “ Syrian refugees is no longer taboo in neighboring countries which host a total of 5.6 million. Some are even seeking to expel them, citing a relative lull.
Turkey hosts the largest contingent (more than 3.6 million, according to the United Nations), while in Lebanon, one in four inhabitants is of Syrian nationality. In Jordan, the UN has 675,000 registered Syrians, but Amman puts the real figure at around 1.3 million.
Since the Covid crisis and the economic consequences linked to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, these countries have assumed their activism on the subject. Latest initiative, the meeting « consultative » organized on 1is May in Amman with the heads of Jordanian, Syrian, Saudi, Iraqi and Egyptian diplomacy. Participants described as “absolute priority (…) the voluntary and safe return of Syrian refugees to their country”expressing their support for “Syria and its institutions in all legitimate efforts to restore its control over its territory”.
► What is the relationship with the ongoing normalization of the Syrian regime?
After more than a decade of war and half a million deaths, Syrian President Bashar Al Assad controls most of the country and is emerging from diplomatic isolation. The February 6 earthquake accelerated its return to the regional scene, as did the rapprochement between Riyadh, which supported rebel groups, and Tehran, sponsor of Damascus. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is expected in the Syrian capital on May 3 – a first since 2010 – after the unprecedented visit of the Saudi Foreign Minister on April 18.
But Damascus is not the only one to see its advantage in this normalization; each neighboring country finds its interest in it. For Jordan, the issue of the return of Syrian refugees is a priority. Amman also presented a “initiative for a political solution to the Syrian crisis”, mid-April, in Saudi Arabia. By seeking a leading role, the Jordanian kingdom also hopes to solve the security problem posed, along the 360 kilometers of border, by the smuggling of arms and drugs from Syria.
► Are the conditions for a return to Syria met?
The UN estimates that around 750,000, including 500,000 from Turkey, the number of Syrians who have returned since 2016. But Syria has more than 90% of inhabitants below the poverty line and 1.8 million people in camps and informal housing.
NGOs regularly issue warnings about “implicit repressions” or induced departures, contrary to international law. After the expulsion of some fifty Syrians, Amnesty International called on Beirut on April 24 to “stop illegal deportations of Syrian refugees”lest they be “tortured or persecuted” by the Syrian government upon their return.
The conditions for a safe and peaceful return are not met. The Tahrir Institute for the Middle East, based in Washington, recently warned in a report about the duplicity of the Syrian regime on this issue. “In the event of the return of certain refugees from Lebanon, Turkey or Jordan, the regime will take advantage of this to make people believe that it really welcomes their return, denounces researcher Muhsen Al Mustafa. But in reality, it is a selective and interest-based return policy which is being implemented, a policy which is neither that of reconciliation nor that of citizenship. »
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