UNHCR in coordination with its partners provided legal assistance to returnees through 193 lawyers and 86 legal outreach volunteers. However, access to legal assistance was affected by measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including the suspension of several governmental services such as the registration of civil events, issuance of personal or cadastral documents, filing lawsuits, etc., along with legal interventions provided by UNHCR. In response to COVID-19 mitigation measures, most of the legal services were provided either remotely through the functioning hotlines or directly when feasible and necessary, with full consideration to the precautionary measures taken against COVID-19. New modalities for awareness raising were identified and employed by partners such as the use of social media, posters, TV or radio programmes, etc.
As a result of the legal assistance provided, 213,196 vulnerable returnees and affected communities benefited from UNHCR’s legal assistance on issues mainly related to documenting civil events like marriages and births, preventing and responding to gender-based violence incidents, child protection, and housing, land and property rights. Out of these, 58,589 people of concern received legal counselling, 36,317 people benefited from lawyers’ direct interventions before courts and administrative bodies, while 118,290 people of concern were reached through awareness sessions on critical legal topics. Direct legal interventions enabled 12,376 individuals, mainly women and children to obtain their national identity cards, while 6,793 individuals obtained family booklets, 5,952 women succeeded to document their marriage, and 3,843 children were registered and obtained birth certificates. During the last quarter of 2020, partners obtained the required approvals to provide legal services on some housing, land and property matters, and therefore 5,203 individuals were assisted to access these documents.
To enhance access to legal assistance particularly for adolescents, UNHCR partners in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Directorate of Civil Affairs, Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour, and UNICEF assisted 320 ninth grade students to obtain their national ID cards upon travelling from Lebanon, and areas of Idlib and Raqqa, to attend their high school exams.
Through intensive coordination with stakeholders including the municipalities and local charities or NGOs, UNHCR partners reached targeted communities in many return areas such as Daraya, Nashabieh in astern Ghouta-Rural Damascus, Nawa and Shajarah-Daraa, and Yarmouk Camp area in Rural Damascus. In the coastal areas which were affected by the fires that took place in 2020, legal partners responded to fire-affected districts by providing the required legal counselling and interventions. This assisted affected people obtain replacement documents such as family booklets, identity cards and ownership deeds.
UNHCR monitored legal developments and measures taken by the Government in relation to return and sensitized the authorities on critical challenges to return proposing solutions and drafting advocacy and legal notes. To build capacity of the newly recruited lawyers and legal outreach volunteers, UNHCR conducted a training on international protection for 48 legal service providers. The training covered the principles of international protection, UNHCR’s mandate, and the international legal framework for the protection of people of concern. The training also enhanced the participants’ knowledge on UNHCR’s Legal Support Programme and the basic principles for humanitarian response.