Will Todman
Just one day after Bashar al-Assad’s ouster, Austria announced plans to deport Syrians back to Syria. A dozen European countries also announced that they had stopped processing Syrians’ asylum claims. This is a huge mistake.
Many European states have wanted to send Syrians back to their home country for a long time. Before Assad’s fall, several states had hardened their stance on refugee returns, pushing for Syrians to return even without political reforms. The collapse of the regime has given them the opportunity to pursue these aims openly. Even more Syrian refugees are in the Middle East, and their hosts are hoping for their rapid return after 13 years of war.
However, refugee return to Syria will be fraught with challenges. Rushing the return of millions of Syrians would put even more pressure on Syria at an extremely fragile moment and would undermine the prospect of a successful transition. It could backfire in ways that destabilize the wider Levant, frustrating host communities’ expectations, exacerbating social tensions, and leading to renewed flows of displacement. To avoid a broader crisis, donor governments should temper expectations of rapid returns, formulate a comprehensive strategy for safe refugee return, and provide sufficient funding to facilitate an orderly process. It requires time, not rapid-fire edicts.
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