U.S. Committee for Refugees World Refugee Survey 1997 - Syria

Conditions for refugees in Syria remain shrouded, due to the lack of free speech, the lack of independent human rights monitoring organizations, a government-controlled press, and the intimidating presence of all-powerful state security forces and an omnipresent intelligence network. The arm of Syrian repression stretches into Lebanon, where some 35,000 Syrian troops are stationed, and where Syrian intelligence services operate brazenly. In recent years, Syrian forces have arrested both Lebanese citizens and Palestinian refugees, often resulting in their disappearance. Human Rights Watch/Middle East alleges that Syrian intelligence runs a torture center at the Beau Rivage Hotel in Beirut, and, after interrogating Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners there, transfers them to Syria, where they are subjected to incommunicado imprisonment without charge or trial. Palestinian Refugees There were 347,391 UNRWAregistered Palestinians in Syria in 1996, of whom 101,027, about 30 percent, were living in camps. Palestinian refugees in Syria represented about 11 percent of the total number of UNRWA- registered refugees. Another 64,000 Palestinians living in Syria were not registered with UNRWA, according to the Palestine Liberation Organization's Refugee Affairs Department. Unsuitable living conditions remained a problem for Palestinians in Syria during the year. Housing and the sewage system in the overcrowded Neirab camp near Aleppo have been recognized as insufficient for several years, but little progress was made in 1996 to improve conditions there. UNRWA had still not moved beyond conducting feasibility studies to replace Neirab's sewage system, and a plan to provide new housing to refugee families living in unsafe and decrepit former army barracks in Neirab was shelved for lack of approval from the Syrian authorities. In November, instead of relocating 34 families living in the old army barracks, UNRWA started work on rehabilitating their living quarters, a job that was scheduled to be completed by July 1997. During the year, UNRWA had more success in relocating Palestinian refugees from the Jaramana camp to a government-constructed housing project in Husseinieh. However, the refugees reported difficulties in meeting the costs of the new, high-rise housing. The serious overcrowding in UNRWA schools continued, with 93 percent of schools operating on double shifts. Due to UNRWA's budgetary constraints, hospital services for refugees were limited to emergency and life-threatening cases, as funding was limited to less than one hospital bed per 10,000 refugees. Some Palestinian refugees reportedly have had difficulty traveling to and from Syria. The Syrian authorities do not permit Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to enter Syria. Non-Palestinian Refugees There were an estimated 37,000 non-Palestinian refugees in Syria at the end of 1996. UNHCR recognized 7,007 non-Palestinian refugees in Syria, of whom it assisted 3,147. There were 1,647 refugees at the El Hol camp in northern Syria, of whom 98 percent were Iraqis. A total of 281 persons were resettled from the El Hol camp during 1996; none, however, opted to repatriate during the year. About 40 percent of the El Hol camp population were women and 25 percent children under the age of five. UNHCR assisted about 1,500 refugees in Damascus. During the year, about 200 of the Damascus caseload were resettled and 38 repatriated. Although the government denied forcibly repatriating refugees, there were continuing reports of forced repatriation of Iraqi refugees and asylum seekers, as well as other nationalities. In September, Syria refouled two Sudanese asylum seekers, despite appeals on their behalf from UNHCR, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Amnesty International, and others. The two had been returned from Hungary to Syria. On September 4, USCR wrote to the Syrian authorities appealing on behalf of the two brothers, asking that they be protected from return to Sudan and released from detention. The USCR letter also urged the Syrian government to establish "procedures for the adequate and durable protection of individuals at risk of serious human rights violations in their home countries." Internal Displacement With the election of Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister of Israel in May, the prospects for the return of displaced Syrians to the Golan Heights dimmed considerably. Netanyahu campaigned hard on a platform of refusal to relinquish the Golan Heights as part of any peace agreement that might be negotiated with Syrian President Hafez al-Assad. Except for some Druze villagers who stayed behind, most of the Syrian population of the Golan Heights fled in 1967. Estimates of their original numbers are a matter of some controversy. Israel says that about 70,000 left; Syria puts the original number at 153,000, and says that the number has grown to almost 500,000, 29 years later. After the 1973 War, Israel agreed to return a slice of territory along the eastern edge of the Golan Heights, extending to Kuneitra, the one-time capital of Golan province, in return for the repatriation of Israeli POWs. Before leaving, however, the Israelis leveled the city with bulldozers and dynamite. Although its 53,000 displaced residents had been expected to return, President Assad said that the city was uninhabitable, and it remained an empty wasteland. Stateless Kurds Another little-known group outside Syria are 142,465 stateless Kurds in northeastern Syria. Although they are registered by the Syrian government, and have strong claims to Syrian citizenship, Syria denies them citizenship. Consequently, they carry no passports and cannot travel outside Syria, yet are denied the rights and benefits of Syrian citizens. Syria disenfranchised this group in 1962, saying they were "alien infiltrators." In a report issued in 1996, Human Rights Watch/Middle East said that although the stated purpose of a recent census of this population was to identify illegal immigrants, in fact, it served part of a comprehensive plan to "Arabize" northeastern Syria. The group is divided into 67,455 classified as "foreigners" and 75,000 termed maktoumeen, meaning "unregistered." The former are issued red identity documents, which prevent them from owning land, practicing certain professions, receiving food subsidies or being admitted to public hospitals, or having legally recognized marriages to Syrian citizens. The latter are issued no documents at all. Maktoumeen are the children (grandchildren, etc.) of "foreigners," including foreigners who marry women who are Syrian citizens.