Private

- “He assured me that it is a routine procedure that every returnee from Turkey undergoes, and today this routine procedure has been in place for two years, and I still do not know anything about my husband and my two children,” says Elham (pseudonym), remembering what a mediator told her about a high-ranking officer in The Syrian regime army, when the mediator asked him about her husband and two sons who were arrested at a security checkpoint in the regime-controlled areas after their return from Turkey, May 2020.

Elham, 54, indicates - in an interview with Al-Jazeera Net - that her husband had "fished" (an irregular mechanism by which a person is known if he is wanted by a security branch in Syria) his name and the name of his two sons before they made the decision to return, about two months before they made the decision to return, however once When they crossed the opposition-controlled areas in the north of the country to the regime areas, contact with them was all cut off.

In addition to the disappearance of Ilham's husband and two sons, Human Rights Watch documented 21 cases of arbitrary arrest and detention of Syrian refugees returning from Lebanon and Jordan only between 2017 and 2021.

The Danish Immigration Service recently confirmed that most of the Syrian refugees who have returned to their country during the past five years have been subjected to violations by the Syrian regime.

Danish immigration said - in a report entitled "Return to Syria" - that the regime's policy regarding the return of Syrian refugees to their country is "unclear", noting that the regime, which called on Syrian refugees to return, is subjected to various violations.


Decreased number of returnees

The report stated that the officer in charge at the border checkpoint or in the security branches has the ability to make his own decision regarding the returning Syrian, while the aggravation of the economic crisis in Syria contributed to the growth of cases of extortion of returnees.

The report indicated that even those who were not previously wanted are at risk of arrest upon return.

According to the report, 282,000 Syrians have returned to their country from neighboring countries during the past five years, including 100,000 from Turkey.

Despite the continuous calls for the return of refugees made by Syrian regime officials on the official media, the number of returnees has been declining continuously since 2020;

The number of returnees reached 38,000, a decrease of 60% compared to 2019.

Muhammad, 46, a Syrian refugee in Turkey, told Al Jazeera Net, "I did not expect that my wife would be exposed to such a situation, especially since she was not wanted by any security branch in the country."

In 2019, Muhammad's family had to arrange some financial matters for them in Damascus, and because the husband was wanted by the security services because of his activity during the Syrian revolution that erupted in 2011, his wife decided to return to Damascus to finish these transactions.

Fatima, 34, the wife of Muhammad, passed through several checkpoints of the Syrian regime during her return trip from the Turkish border to Damascus, and was reassured that she was not wanted, but in Damascus - while completing a transaction in a government directorate - she was notified of the need to review the security branch 227 .

For his part, Muhammad stood helpless in front of what he heard, "in front of two fires, the fire of my wife's disappearance in one of the Syrian regime's prisons, and the fire of my children being stuck in Damascus without their mother, our family lived difficult days."

And what made matters worse - according to Muhammad - "everyone I asked them warned me not to review my wife's branch, stressing that if she goes, she will never come back."


For weeks, Muhammad was afraid that a security patrol would come and take his wife from her family’s house by force to the branch. “I suffered from sleep disturbances, insomnia and severe stress, before I succeeded in agreeing with a smuggler to take my wife and children across a military line from Damascus to Aleppo,” he said. Then smuggle them to Turkey.


wholesale violations

In a report last October, Human Rights Watch indicated that Syrian refugees returning to Syria from Lebanon and Jordan between 2017 and 2021 faced massive human rights violations and persecution at the hands of the "Syrian government" and its affiliated militias.

The report stated that returnees also struggled to survive and meet their basic needs in a country devastated by conflict.

The report, titled "Life Like Death" confirmed that Syria is not safe for the return of refugees, and stated that among the returnees or members of their families interviewed, Human Rights Watch documented 21 cases of arbitrary arrest and detention, 13 cases of torture, 3 cases of kidnapping, and 5 cases Extrajudicial killings, 17 cases of enforced disappearance, and one case of alleged sexual violence.

Refugees and Migrants Researcher Nadia Hardman said, “The harrowing accounts of torture, enforced disappearance and abuse of refugees returning to Syria should make clear that Syria is not safe for return. Widespread property rights violations and other economic hardships also make for sustainable return. Impossible for many.

"No country should force refugees to return to Syria, as long as the Syrian government is committing widespread human rights abuses. After 10 years, returning refugees are still at risk of persecution from the same government from which they fled," the researcher added.


The organization called on all countries to protect Syrians from returning to face violence and torture and to stop any forcible returns to Syria.

According to the report, despite the risks to returnees, countries in the region and abroad continue to encourage returns.

Denmark set a dangerous precedent within the European Union by canceling the "temporary protection" for people coming from Damascus and the Damascus countryside.

The report added that despite the increasing levels of vulnerability in Lebanon and Jordan, the number of refugees returning voluntarily to Syria did not witness a significant increase.

Those who return are often subjected to severe stress, with limited information on conditions within the country.

The report stated that “at the start of the Syrian conflict, refugees were initially welcomed by Lebanon and Jordan. As the number of refugees in Lebanon increased, Lebanon adopted coercive and abusive measures, including discriminatory curfews, evictions, arrests, and other restrictions on legal residency and access to work and education.

The organization urged international donor governments to use their influence to stop practices such as summary deportations and refoulement, which amount to "violation of non-refoulement obligations".