1,400 Displaced Kurdish Families Remain in Limbo Over Return to Syria's Shahba

SOHR

Displaced families are facing worsening conditions with the onset of winter.

Around 1,400 Kurdish families displaced from the Shahba region north of Aleppo remain in limbo, with no clear prospect of a safe return to their homes despite the passage of several months and the announcement of official projects aimed at addressing displacement and camp conditions.

According to a statement by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), the majority of these families are currently scattered across cities and towns including al-Hasakah, Qamishli, Tel Tamer, al-Darbasiyah, Derik and Kobani.

The majority are originally from the cities, towns and surrounding areas of Azaz, al-Bab, al-Rai, Marea, Manbij and Deir Hafer. Their return continues to face security, service and livelihood challenges, as well as concerns over whether sufficient guarantees are in place to protect civilians and ensure their stability, according to the SOHR.

Official bodies within Syria's transitional government have announced 119 projects in Aleppo Governorate under a programme known as "Syria Without Camps", with a reported value of more than $9.25 million. The projects are intended to improve services and living conditions and help create conditions for displaced residents to return.

However, displaced families from Shahba say the projects have yet to translate into practical measures that would enable them to return or provide the basic conditions required for a stable and dignified life in their home areas.

For the displaced families, a sustainable return would require more than housing and the restoration of basic services. They say it would also depend on comprehensive security guarantees, stability, the rehabilitation of infrastructure, access to livelihoods and employment, and safeguards against renewed risks that could force them to flee again.

The continued displacement highlights a gap between official announcements concerning the resolution of the camps and displacement crisis and the conditions facing families still waiting for the necessary requirements for a voluntary, safe and dignified return.

Thousands of Syrians continue to face the choice of remaining in areas of displacement or returning to places where fundamental conditions for stability have yet to be fully established.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has called for practical measures to address displacement, including ensuring protection and security, restoring infrastructure and basic services, securing livelihoods and addressing the underlying causes of displacement.

It said such measures are necessary to ensure that returns are voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable.



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