In the month of October, the Association continued to work on countering the dangerous narrative that Syria is becoming safe for return sparked by the visit of the UNHCR’s Head Filippo Grandi to Eastern Ghouta. SACD continued to draw attention to the danger such misleading messaging can inflict on vulnerable displaced Syrians who are suffering in displacement, especially in countries like Lebanon or internally. SACD members Bayan Rehan and Fadi Haroun, both displaced from Eastern Ghouta, sent a clear message about the increasing difficult humanitarian situation for the people of Eastern Ghouta, and explained the implications of false and misleading messaging of the UNHCR on the lives of the returnees.

SACD reported about the escalating situation in Kanaker, in Western Ghouta, which was besieged for days by the regime’s military, who threatened a full scale attack over a checkpoint incident, indicating that what happened in Kanaker was nothing but a blatant example of the terrible, unsafe security situation in Damascus and its countryside.

In response to the regime’s propaganda pieces portraying the situation in Deir Ezzor as safe for return, SACD documented the reality in the area explaining how the regime used a few individual returns of people internally displaced to Assad-held areas to distort the truth that many displaced people cannot return because of the very practices of the regime. SACD used different platforms to communicate how this is a systematic policy practiced by the regime throughout the years with serious implications to not only deny the displaced people from returning, but also cement their displacement.

Dr. Hala Alghawi, a member of SACD’s Board of Trustees, spoke at an event about obstacles to free elections in Syria, organized by Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center, with a clear message from displaced Syrians: holding free and fair elections under the current constitutional, security and general conditions in Syria is impossible.

Syria Direct published a substantive article on HLP violations in Syria and its impact on the return of the displaced people. The piece quoted SACD’s Haya Atassi on how “demographic changes are evident in Daraa, Hama, Homs suburbs, Yarmouk camp & the Damascus area, places where the revolution took hold”.