FAR FROM HOME: SYRIAN REFUGEES AND THE PERILS OF REPATRIATION

Hilma packs her bag and is escorted out of her two-room shanty by an imposing man in a Lebanese army uniform. The camp has been swarmed by them recently. She is stuffed into a truck filled with mattresses and other wear and tears from her home in the refugee camp. The men in the army uniform are a regular sight for residents of the camp in Arsal. Almost every camp on the Syrian and Lebanese border has been encountering them since the government started the process of Syrian repatriation.

Much like Hilma was, thousands of men, women, and children have been driven out of Syria as their once-peaceful nights were now populated with sounds of a by seemingly ceaseless war. They’re now flooding into the bordering countries of Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan, which together host 80 per cent of the Syrian Refugees. To them, hopeless and displaced, political allegiances to the rebel coalition or Assad’s forces are a luxury that comes after they find an intact hospital to mend their wounds. Unfortunately, regardless of many international conventions mandating the protection of medical facilities at times of war, they too have become a casualty of the war.

The perils of outbound migration from Syria, extensively covered by the international media, remind not only the international community but also the migrants themselves of how hard their journey out will be. Nonetheless, more than 5.6 million Syrians have made the arduous journey and found themselves in refugee camps across the Middle East and some in Europe too. However, camps are marked by a stark dearth of medical supplies, educational facilities and work opportunities. It is a suffocating life, living in a constant limbo where leaving and staying are both equally dangerous.

Countries are getting tired of the hordes of refugees that come to their border hoping for a respite, creating insecurity among the refugees. Being unstable themselves, they can’t take appropriate care of the incoming refugees. While Lebanon has resorted to forcefully bulldozing houses in refugee camps and denied the UNHRC access to camps, Turkey is detaining undocumented refugees and coercing them into returning to Syria. Seeing that sooner or later they will be forced to return to Syria, refugees are leaving to Syria of their accord. Therefore, repatriation becomes an inevitable choice, even if it is not a desirable one. 

Refugees who’ve considered leaving are uncertain about what can be expected on the other side as camp rumours tell a narrative of the conditions in Syria that are poles apart. Some hearsay communicates that some government recaptured areas are now functional with water, electricity and security. Others tell the opposite story of desolate land with thin security and sparse resources. Vetting is done by the Syrian government whose intentions always seem murky as it would likely prioritize its political advantages over the refugees’ safety. Refugees often pause for thought because of these uncertainties and their distrust with the participants of the war.

Those who return to their former homes might just find that their old ghosts still haunt them. One refugee, Mohamed, spent months deliberating on his journey back only to be shot dead by a man holding a grudge against him 3 days into his return. This is likely the case for many Syrians who fought in the war, regardless of which side they took. Young men, who are often a family’s only source of income, also fear being conscripted into Assad’s army, pulling them back into the war that they fled from. Others have disappeared into the country’s detention system without a trace after coming back to Syria. They are often picked up by government police, brought to the police station with promises of being back home in a few days. That, of course, never happens.

Aliens in a home away from home, refugees are some of the most vulnerable people groups in the world. While the pressure the swath of them are placing on host nations is an understandable cause for frustration, it is unacceptable to deal with fellow humans like cattle to be disposed of on the other side of the border. It is the responsibility of all involved parties to ensure that living conditions in refugee camps do not remain decrepit. Syria must supply safe areas in the border regions that will serve as more than an under-resourced facade created to keep appearances with international agents. Repatriation must be a carefully monitored humanitarian process, not just a politically motivated, haphazard one that makes people the casualties of war.

Swati Lakshmi Batchu

B.A. in Global Affairs at the Jindal School of International Affairs