16-07-2025
UN refugee agency forced to make cuts as Syrians try to return home, top official says
The UN's refugee agency has been forced to slash services just as it needs to increase operations to help Syrians return home, a top official said on Wednesday.
With governments around the globe diverting money from aid to security and defence, the UNHCR is having to make cuts in the Middle East, including in Lebanon where it has stopped providing educational services to refugee children.
A 'historic opportunity for people to stop being refugees unfortunately comes at the same time that we've had a dramatic series of cuts to the humanitarian aid system around the world,' said Rema Jamous Imseis, the Middle East and North Africa regional director for the UNHCR.
She told reporters in Washington that Syria and the region are at a 'pivotal moment' and called on the US government to provide additional support for refugee assistance, and to countries that are hosting large numbers of Syrians.
The agency said it urgently needs at least $370 million to fund programmes for the return and reintegration of Syrians, and another $575 million for this year's return support plan.
More than two million Syrians have returned home since the end of the civil war in December, including 650,000 refugees and more than 1.5 million internally displaced people.
Refugees returning to Syria face enormous challenges. About 80 per cent of homes are either fully or partially destroyed, according to the UNHCR.
'The basic necessities of life simply don't exist,' Ms Jamous Imseis said. 'We need the international community support to help reinforce and consolidate what's there and further expand to meet the needs of all of these people who want to return home.'
Syria is undergoing new turmoil that threatens the promise of stability by the new government of President Ahmad Al Shara. Israel bombed Damascus on Wednesday in response to Syrian attacks on the Druze minority community in the south.
