UNHCR maintained its strategic directions of integrated protection services and emergency life-saving assistance and responded to three major emergencies in East Ghouta, Afrin and the South West/ Dara’a through its NFIs/shelter and protection programs. Integrated protection services and assistance programs were implemented through over 200 Community/Satellite Centres and Mobile Units, 2,810 outreach volunteers, to mitigate protection risks and enhance positive coping mechanisms, and access to services for the most vulnerable. Through 22 partners (including 7 INGOs) implementing protection and community services programs in 13 out of 14 governorates, 2,337,182 protection interventions were carried out covering 491 communities in 149 sub-districts. 68% of these interventions were provided in sub-districts with severity scale 4, 5 or 6 (6 being the highest severity scale, indicating catastrophic needs). A network of 211 lawyers and 96 legal ORVs provided counselling and legal aid to 279,240 IDPs and returnees; 107,536 individuals benefitted from awareness raising sessions on different legal issues. 13,379 children and 7,837 SGBV survivors were assisted through case management processes. More than 1.4 million internally displaced and more than 56,000 refugees returned in 2018. UNHCR was successful in ensuring that return was included in the HRP and resources were allocated to respond to immediate and urgent humanitarian needs of returning IDPs and refugees. In cooperation with the GoS, other UN agencies and Syrian NGOs, UNHCR initiated its support to returnees to reclaim their civil documents, property and resolve legal obstacles through analysis and advocacy around specific legislation and regulations, legal assistance and civil documentation. Within the context of return coordination, UNHCR facilitated the work of the Return and Reintegration Working Group (RRWG) established as part of the UN Country Team. UNHCR serves as the Secretariat for the RRWG.
UNHCR introduced area-based village and neighbourhood support programmes, to provide a combination of prioritized services including rehabilitation of shelters, schools, health points and bakeries to provide basic support and services to communities in return areas for benefit of all, regardless of status. UNHCR drafted legal analyses on new Laws and in coordination with HLP Technical Working Group, managed to advocating for the presidential decree amending Law 10, extending to one year the period of submitting ownership documents, and waiving the requirement of declaring rights of properties.
Refugee assistance programs were maintained for around 45,360 refugee/asylum seekers in the country of whom 7,879 were in camps in Al-Hasakeh while an urban population of 12,648 individuals was primarily in Damascus and Rural Damascus. UNHCR continued its advocacy for the preservation of asylum space and access to the territory for new arrivals. 5,163 individuals were registered and the registration of population in Newroz and Roj Camps was completed. 376 refugees were submitted for resettlement. The operation introduced a targeted approach for cash assistance in order to assist the most vulnerable groups. The total number of refugees supported with cash assistance was 18,418 (6,447 households) while 7,859 asylum seekers (1,521 households) were supported with cash for food and 22,958 individuals (7,163 families) benefitted from a winterization grant.
2018