The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced that 3,162 Syrian refugees have returned from Jordan to their homeland since the beginning of the year, marking a 63% increase compared to the same period last year.
UNHCR data indicated that in 2023, 19,729 Syrian refugees from Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, and Iraq returned to Syria, a 19.36% increase from the 16,529 reported during the same period in 2022. Jordan hosts over 1.3 million Syrians since the onset of the Syrian crisis in 2011, including more than 628,000 registered Syrian refugees with the UNHCR as of the end of June last year.
A survey conducted by the United Nations last year revealed that 97% of Syrian refugees in Jordan participating in the study do not intend to return to their country within the next 12 months. Approximately a quarter of those unwilling to return within a year expressed a desire to return to Syria within the next five years.
The main factors influencing the decision to return included safety and security, livelihood opportunities, basic services, and housing conditions in Syria.
This month, Jordan’s Foreign Minister, Ayman Safadi, emphasized Jordan’s commitment to providing a decent life for refugees but also highlighted the need for their return to their countries. He noted that any decrease in refugee support would impact Jordan’s ability to offer the life that refugees deserve.
During the ministerial meeting of the eighth Brussels Conference on Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region, he called for the creation of a fund to support the voluntary return of Syrian refugees to their homeland, stating, “The solution to the problem of Syrian refugees is through their voluntary return to their countries, and we will not accept the continuation of the current situation.”
