The Syrian Association for Citizen’s Dignity firmly believes that the return of the 13 million displaced Syrians is crucial to have lasting peace in Syria. The safe, voluntary and dignified return should be guaranteed in any future political solution in Syria, which should take into consideration the views and conditions the displaced people want for a safe return.

Hence, on #WorldRefugeeDay SACD launched the #WeAreSyria Campaign to call for a meaningful inclusion of the voices of some 13 million displaced Syrians in any political talks about Syria and return in what conditions consider a safe, voluntary and dignified return to their homes. The campaign intended to raise the voice of the displaced Syrians as well as to motivate them to express their ideas and views regarding return, and to remind them that no comprehensive political solution can be reached without securing and guaranteeing their rights.

The widespread social media campaign reached more than five million people worldwide, received media coverage, participation of numerous Syrian organisations, figures and activists such as Ward al-Najjar, Hadi Abdallah, Lina Shamy, Assad Hanna, Hassan Akkad, Afraa Hashem and others. Displaced Syrians from all over the world shared their videos reminding the world that no enduring peace can last in Syria without their return, and their return cannot happen without the safe environment, in which they themselves define it. The campaign received wide engagement from countries with highest numbers of displaced Syrians such as Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Germany and others.

Dr Mazen Kseibi, member of SACD General Board of Trustees from Homs, gave an interview to Syria TV explaining the importance of the preserving and guaranteeing the rights of the 13 million displaced Syrians and affirmed the importance of creating a safe environment for their return.

 The month of June saw a disturbing trend, in which the Syrian regime and its allies have been burning agricultural lands belonging to displaced Syrians with a clear intent to cement their displacement by making it impossible for them to return and harvest the fields and orchards targeted by fires. SACD published an analysis to provide a closer look at such incidents in Palmyra, Harasta and al-Qusayr.

 With hundreds of thousands of detainees held in Assad prisons, Bayan Reyhan and Fadi Nezhat, members of SACD, held a discussion to illuminate how the practice of arbitrary arrests continues and impacts the fate of returnees to Asssad-held areas, elaborating on SACD’s first thematic report “Vengeance, Repression and Fear: Reality behind Assad’s promises to displaced Syrians”. The report was comprised of an unprecedented effort to gather testimonies from people who have returned to Assad-held areas (mostly due to dire living conditions in the displacement locations or because they believed the regime’s promises of safe return) and those who remained in formerly opposition-controlled areas after they were retaken by regime forces under so-called reconciliation agreements.

In a conversation to mark the International Day of Solidarity with Victims of Torture, SACD members Nour Jazmati from Aleppo, Mounir Fakir from Damascus and Khalid Terkawi from Homs engaged in a conversation on how knowing the fate of detainees and their release constitutes a minimum condition for a safe, voluntary and dignified return. SACD participated in the campaign, using hashtags #VictimsofTorture and #JusticeMattersSyria, to honor all victims of torture in Syria and remind the world that There are more than 130 000 people in regime’s prisons, while some studies estimate this number to be much higher especially if the number of forcefully disappeared persons is added. Arbitrary arrests and forced disappearances continue to this day.

In collaboration with several organizations and institutions such as PAX, Basma & Zeitounah and Triple 11, SACD co-organized a panel about “Safety and security and long-term rights of displaced Syrians”. The Lebanese representative, Sandy Khalil, gave the opening speech and called to exclude the return of displaced Syrians from the political solution. In response, SACD presented the findings of its reports and stressed on the importance of creating a safe environment for the return of displaced Syrians, and added that the only way to secure a safe, voluntary and dignified return for Syrians is by reaching a comprehensive political solution that guarantees all their rights. The issue of return is not only humanitarian but also political at heart.