Syria: More than 1.6 million people returned - Press Conference | United Nations

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator, Alexander De Croo, told reporters in New York that Syria is at a “pivotal moment” and stressed that as more than 1.6 million people have returned to Syria last year, there are increased “needs on housing, needs on government services, needs on jobs.” De Croo, briefing jointly from Damascus with humanitarian Chief Tom Fletcher, told reporters that “after a too long period of an atrocious war with too many casualties,” Syria is “at the moment where we can shift from purely humanitarian to also doing development work.” He said returnees had “left often in dramatic circumstances” and providing services is “really crucial because if we're not able to provide those services, well, actually people who had the intention to return might at some point make the choice to not return at all.” The UNDP Administrator said the region “is in urgent need for a success story, and Syria could be a success story if we are able to stand on the side of the Syrian people and provide the services that are needed.” He appealed to the international community “to do the necessary investment, support and advocacy for making sure that we can shift into development work.” De Croo said the impact of the Iran war “is really reversing progress” in the region, pointing out a UNDP estimation “that it would lead to a scaling back of one-and- a-half-year of progress, an economic loss of 190 billion and more than 4 million people being pushed into poverty.” For his part, Fletcher said, “there has been real progress in the last 15 months since I was here in December 2024, progress that has defied a lot of predictions and many expectations. And we have to build on that progress now, which means we accelerate the humanitarian work that we're doing, including that vital mine clearance.” Noting the launch of the United Nations 2026 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan for Syria, Fletcher highlighted the importance of “this transition, this recalibration, as we face down the humanitarian response and phase up the development, resilience, long term recovery response.” He said, “about 200,000 refugees or displaced people have crossed the border in the last 3 or 4 weeks. The vast majority, about 175,000 of those are Syrians coming home. But that leaves about 25,000 others, mainly Lebanese and of course, Palestinians. People who have often been displaced multiple times. So, while the government is preparing and is very focused on creating the conditions where they can close the camps within Syria, these are very, very significant numbers.” The 2026 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan for Syria, launched today, identifies primary areas of intervention, including critical infrastructure, essential services, socio-economic resilience, institutional building, and mine and unexploded ordnance clearance.


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