Syrian Refugees Return From KRG Due To Unemployment Amid Coronavirus - The syrian observer
“Due to the continued spread of the coronavirus, businesses in Kurdish Iraq are remaining closed, creating an unemployment crisis for Syrian refugees living in the region”
For about eight months, the lockdown measures have affected restaurants and many tourist facilities that housed Syrian workers, and according to statistics from the Association of Restaurants and Hotels in Duhok Governorate, which received about 100,000 Syrian refugees in 2019, 30 percent of those refugees worked in the tourism sector.
The UNHCR in Iraq recorded an increase in returns to Syria, according to press statements by UNHCR media officer Rashid Hussein. “500 Syrian refugees in Duhok Governorate have registered with the UNHCR for voluntary return to Syria,” he explained.
He added, “The main reasons for the voluntary return, according to refugees, are the economic conditions and the decline in job opportunities in the KRG.”
Nuri Qasim is a former Syrian refugee who returned to his hometown of Derik three months ago after spending a year and a half in the city of Zakho in KRG. Qasim worked as a construction worker, but his work stopped due to coronavirus and the lack of aid provided by relief organizations to refugees, in addition to some health problems that forced him to return
▻https://syrianobserver.com/EN/news/63130/syrian-refugees-return-from-krg-due-to-unemployment-amid-coronavirus
#Covid-19#Syrie#Iraq#frontière#Pandémie#Travail#Retour_volontaire#Économie#migrant#Politique#réfugiés#migration