Geneva, SANA-The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has announced that the number of Syrians returning to their country since the fall of the previous regime has exceeded half a million refugees, at a rate of 100,000 returnees per month. However, the challenges facing them—and the country as a whole—remain immense.
Lujain Hasan, UNHCR Protection Associate in Syria, stated on the agency’s website: “The number of returnees to Syria is approaching 500,000.” She explained that these individuals “are starting their lives from scratch and are in desperate need of support to reintegrate into their communities. The main and basic challenge is the shortage of funds.”
Hassan also noted that despite the many challenges, the overwhelming sense she gets when speaking to families returning home after so many years is one of optimism.
She added: “When you are meeting returnees, you see the hope in their eyes. They want to rebuild – not only their houses but the whole country,” she said. “It’s really time to invest, to try to support these people to build a life again.”
UNHCR has highlighted on its website that its ability to assist all those in need is limited due to a sharp reduction in humanitarian aid funding, which threatens recovery and stability efforts. The number of Syrian returnees from neighboring countries has now surpassed 500,000, in addition to approximately 1.2 million internally displaced persons who have returned to their homes in the past five months.
The UNHCR, in cooperation with Syrian authorities and other partners, is working to support returning Syrian refugees and internally displaced persons by rehabilitating and repairing damaged homes, providing legal assistance to replace lost identity and property documents, and launching initiatives to help them find work and secure a livelihood.
Reem Abdulhameed / Manar Salameh
