‘UNHCR validating number of Syrian returnees from Jordan’

AMMAN — The UNHCR on Monday said that a manual validation of the number of Syrian refugees who returned home from Jordan after the reopening of the border crossing between the two countries late last year is currently ongoing to accurately confirm the figure.

“Since the Jaber/Nassib border reopening until February 26, 2019, the UNHCR was able to identify 12,846 Syrian refugee returnees based on the departure lists provided by the Jordanian government,” UNHCR spokesman in Amman, Mohammad Hawari, told The Jordan Times on Monday.

He added that the refugees who chose to return to Syria “have largely done so by themselves”.

Hawari noted that the UNHCR has a presence at the border which is used “for liaison, addressing concerns that arise and observing the safe and dignified departure on days of return movements”.

“Negotiations with the government on expanding UNHCR’s role at the border are currently ongoing,” he said.

The Jaber/Nassib crossing was reopened in mid-October 2018 after it had been shut since April 2015 due to the escalating violence in the Syrian town of Nassib, just across the border station, some 80km north of Amman.

The UNHCR’s position remains that the current conditions in Syria are premature for a rapid shift to facilitated voluntary repatriation, Hawari said. 

“As the situation in Syria is evolving and people decide to voluntarily return, it is important to safeguard space for free and informed decision making and respect for such decisions. However, at this stage, the UNHCR does not yet facilitate nor promote returns to Syria,” the spokesperson said.

According to Hawari, spontaneous voluntary returns have occurred throughout the crisis in Syria and UNHCR-Jordan’s statistics show that over 17,000 refugees have chosen to return from January 2016 till June 2018. 

On June 27, 2018, due to the intensification of military hostilities in southwestern Syria the return process was temporarily suspended, according to the refugee agency. 

At the end of July, the area had been entirely recovered by the Syrian government and territorial control had changed from opposition forces to governmental authorities, including at the border crossing points to Jordan.