Through a video call with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed on Monday (November 9, 2020) that the return of refugees to Syria is necessary to rebuild the country, two days before holding an international conference on Syrian refugees.
Damascus, with the support of Russia, is organizing a conference on Wednesday and Thursday (November 11 and 12) on the return of refugees to Syria, as well as internally displaced persons to their homes in the country. It is not yet clear who participates in it. However, neighboring Lebanon will send the Minister of Social Affairs as representative. The United Nations Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria, Omran Reda, will attend the conference as an “observer”.
Putin said: “There are more than 6.5 million refugees outside Syria, most of them are citizens who can work and can participate in the reconstruction of their country,” according to a copy of the dialogue on the Kremlin.
Russia has been seeking for years to obtain the support of the international community to begin the reconstruction phase and the return of refugees, while donors link any aid to reach a political solution to the conflict.
Putin said in the dialogue that Syria must now focus on rebuilding, while the country’s extremist groups have been largely defeated. He added that “Russia supports holding an international conference on refugees, and the Russian delegation will be one of the largest delegations to participate.” He added: “More than 850,000 Syrians have returned from abroad and more than 1.3 million have returned to their places of permanent residence within the country.”
Al-Assad: the return of refugees is a priority
For his part, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad stressed that the Syrian government considers the return of refugees a priority. He said: “The Syrian government is not only ready, but is also eager to release these results to see the return of the largest number of them (refugees) in the coming months.”
The Syrian president added: “For us in Syria, we have high hopes at this conference that it will produce practical results,” according to the Syrian News Agency (SANA).
Al-Assad considered that the “greatest obstacle” to the return of the refugees “besides the persistence of terrorism in some areas to which they are supposed to return (…) is the siege of Syria”, referring to the sanctions imposed by Western countries on your country, led by the United States.
He commented on Russian efforts in terms of “the possibility of easing, lifting or eliminating this blockade”, and explained that the return of the refugees “needs to ensure the basic necessities necessary for their livelihood, such as water, electricity, schools … in addition on the subject of moving the economy. “
Will Turkey participate in the conference?
Human rights organizations warn that the cessation of battles in various areas of Syria does not mean that they are now ready for the return of refugees in light of their lack of infrastructure and services, and they express their fear of human rights violations. .
For its part, Lebanon said it would send Acting Minister of Social Affairs Ramzi Musharafieh to the conference. Lebanon is home to more than one million Syrian refugees, most of whom live in informal camps. Meanwhile, Jordan hosts some 650,000 Syrian refugees registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
It is unclear whether Turkey will participate in the conference. Ankara is home to the largest number of Syrian refugees, about 3.7 million, and supports certain Syrian opposition groups.
PMC / HD (DPA, AFP)
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Barbed wire and some hope: Syrian refugees around the world
While the vast majority of European countries closed their doors to refugees, Germany, and to a lesser extent Sweden, was among the countries that received the most refugees. In just a few months, Germany received more than a million refugees, most of them Syrian. Despite the welcome that many Germans showed towards the refugees, their arrival in large numbers did not suit many either, since the open-door policy caused electoral losses for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party.
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Barbed wire and some hope: Syrian refugees around the world
Turkey, home to more than 2.7 million people, is by far the largest host country for Syrian refugees in the world. Amid the influx of refugees to Europe last year from Turkey, Brussels pledged to pay € 3 billion to support Syrian refugees and reignite talks on Ankara’s membership in the European Union in exchange for Ankara’s help. to limit the number of people trying to reach Europe from Turkey. However, this agreement remains fragile.
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Barbed wire and some hope: Syrian refugees around the world
Lebanon, a small country with a population of less than 5.8 million, hosts more than a million Syrian refugees, most of whom reside in informal camps under difficult living conditions. As a result, Lebanon, characterized by limited economic resources and a fragile political and sectarian structure, hosts the highest percentage of refugees compared to its population, with there being one Syrian refugee for every five Lebanese citizens.
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Barbed wire and some hope: Syrian refugees around the world
Jordan, despite its small area and population, is one of the most important host countries for Syrian refugees. According to the United Nations, there are around 630,000 Syrian refugees registered in the Kingdom of Jordan, while authorities say the country has hosted some 1.4 million Syrian refugees since the outbreak of conflict in Syria in March 2011. The 80 percent of them live outside the camps, while the Zaatari camp in Mafraq is in refuge. It is the largest, with some 80,000 refugees.
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Barbed wire and some hope: Syrian refugees around the world
It seems that most of the Gulf countries refuse to receive Syrian refugees on their lands, with the exception of Saudi Arabia, which has received around 500 thousand Syrian refugees, without officially having refugee status, since the outbreak of the crisis. Syria in 2011. Other countries preferred to finance camps and programs for Syrian refugees in neighboring countries.
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Barbed wire and some hope: Syrian refugees around the world
Sweden received around 160,000 asylum seekers last year, but the numbers dropped to about 2,000 a month after the implementation of border restrictions and procedures that make it difficult for refugees to enter the European Union. Last summer, the Swedish parliament adopted stricter rules regarding asylum seekers, including not granting permanent residence permits to everyone who received asylum in the country.
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Barbed wire and some hope: Syrian refugees around the world
Denmark also received more than 21,000 asylum applications in 2015, a 44 percent increase compared to 2014, but that is far fewer than the number of applications in its northern neighbor Sweden. Denmark was also one of the first countries to impose random identity checks along German borders with the aim of preventing “large numbers of refugees and immigrants” from entering the country. Before that, he cut financial aid for refugees.
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Barbed wire and some hope: Syrian refugees around the world
Hungary was one of the first European countries to extend barbed wire along its borders with the beginning of the influx of refugees through the Balkan route to prevent them from entering its territory. Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic continue to reject any mandatory refugee distribution mechanism. He also rejected previous calls by Germany, Italy and Greece for European solidarity to address the asylum and immigration file.
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Barbed wire and some hope: Syrian refugees around the world
Slovakia is one of the Eastern European countries that refuses to receive refugees. In a statement to one of its political leaders earlier this year, he claimed that the country does not want to receive Muslim refugees, explaining that these are culturally different from the country’s population and that there are not enough mosques and places of worship for them in Slovakia. . The country has also seen extremist-led protests against refugees (photo).
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Barbed wire and some hope: Syrian refugees around the world
The United States, despite its large area and population, estimated at 320 million, has set a cap on the number of Syrian refugees the country receives this year at 10,000. They must also undergo extensive and strict security measures. Despite this, there are Republican Party politicians who refuse to bring refugees from Syria for security reasons. However, Washington announced that it will increase the number by 30 percent over the next year.
Author: st
