250,000 refugees could return to Syria next year: UN

Aquarter of a million Syrian refugees could return home next year, despite massive hurdles facing returnees, the UN said yesterday, urging support to the millions still in neighbouring countries.

“We are forecasting...up to 250,000 Syrians go back in 2019,” Amin Awad, who heads the UN refugee agency’s Middle East and North Africa operations, told reporters in Geneva.

“That figure can go up and down according to the pace with which we are...removing the obstacles to return,” he stressed.

There are currently 5.6mn Syrian refugees living in the region, including around 1mn born into displacement, according to UNHCR data.

The agency said that 117,000 refugees had returned to Syria since 2015, including 37,000 this year.

“These are organised returns, completely voluntary, in safety...and of course with UNHCR involvement,” Awad said.

Despite the winding down of Syria’s devastating conflict, which has killed more than 360,000 people since 2011, Awad said returnees face a whole host of obstacles.These range from documentation confirming identity and property in Syria to a dire lack of education, healthcare and sanitation in the places to which they return.

There are also issues related to conscription and questions around those who deserted the army when they left Syria, Awad said.

And there are obstacles related to physical security even in places where the fighting has stopped, including large amounts of unexploded ordinance.