Policy brief

Prospects for repatriation for Syrian refugees?

The Syrian conflict has entered its second decade, and while fighting has subsided, the prospects for an inclusive settlement remain grim. With 6.7 million registered refugees, Syrians constitute over 25% of the global refugee population.

​In this Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) Middle East Centre policy brief, “Irresolvable Dilemmas? The Prospects for Repatriation for Syrian Refugees”, Research Professor Kristian Berg Harpviken and Research Assistant Bjørn Schirmer-Nilsen address the challenges for Syrian refugees in major host countries, the refugees’ eroding opportunities for onward migration, and their prospects for repatriation.

Harpviken and Schirmer-Nilsen show that in all major host countries for Syrian refugees – Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey – hospitality is wearing thin, while an increasing share of refugees face economic deprivation. Openings for third country resettlement have shrunk significantly, as have possibilities for onward migration.