Geneva, Jan. 27 (SANA) The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said the number of people forced to flee their homes worldwide has reached a record 123 million, noting that Syria has become an important example of voluntary return.
In an interview published Tuesday, IOM Director General Amy Pope said more than 4 million Syrians fled the country during years of conflict, while over 6 million were internally displaced.
She said around 3 million Syrians have so far returned to their areas, including nearly 2 million internally displaced people who went back to their towns and villages, as well as more than 1 million refugees who returned from neighboring countries.
Pope stressed that the success of returns in Syria is closely linked to the creation of a safe and stable environment, calling for reconstruction efforts to be aligned with development plans to enable returnees to contribute effectively to rebuilding the country.
She added that supporting safe and voluntary returns would help accelerate Syria’s recovery and have a positive impact on regional stability, amid one of the most complex displacement crises in modern history.
Earlier on Tuesday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson in Syria, Celine Schmitt, said an increasing number of Syrian refugees are expressing a desire to return. She noted that 1.4 million refugees have already gone back to Syria, along with nearly 2 million internally displaced people, as the conditions that forced them to flee no longer exist.
