Syrians should not be forced to return to an unsafe Syria

Syrian refugees and internally displaced persons are facing increasingly difficult circumstances in camps inside Syria and a number of host countries. Amid this uncertainty, Lebanon’s Ministry of Social Affairs has put together a paper outlining plans to organise a mass return of Syrian refugees in close coordination with the Syrian regime and without any consideration for their basic right of non-refoulement and the many dangers returnees face, including arbitrary arrest, torture, extortion and forced conscription. What a return would look like According to the SACD survey, some 73 percent of displaced Syrians would be willing to return to their homes if adequate conditions existed. Those scenes can serve as a reminder of the urgent need for the UN itself – as well as various governments and entities that have a stake in the Syrian war, including the EU, United States, and Turkey – to start working now to redraw and accelerate the Syrian political process towards a political solution that will guarantee a safe, voluntary and dignified return to all displaced Syrians.