The Returnability Gap: Governing Syrian Repatriation Before Durable Repatriation

Jochumsen, Emil Lyster

4. semester

International Relations, MSc.

2026

2026-05-29

81

This thesis explores how the return of Syrian refugees after Assad's fall is made possible in practice through administrative, legal, and humanitarian steps, even before it qualifies as durable, voluntary repatriation. It introduces the idea of the returnability gap: the distance between return understood as an institutional process that can be certified, facilitated, reassessed, tested, and counted, and repatriation understood as a lasting solution grounded in genuine choice, stability, rights, and belonging. The study uses qualitative document analysis, a WPR-inspired policy lens that asks how policy tools define problems, and a curated bank of Syrian voices. It first maps how return is governed via certification, facilitation, legal reassessment, information practices, and counting. It then shows how Syrian perspectives complicate this governance by raising questions about voluntariness, finality, and coherence. The analysis finds that post-Assad return is real and often desired, but also prone to premature closure. Return can be genuinely wanted yet shaped by degraded alternatives; recorded as movement while remaining provisional; and felt as homecoming without restoring housing, security, trust, or rights. Returnability sets a lower threshold than durable repatriation, and the gap between them matters for how post-Assad return should be understood, governed, and protected.

Denne afhandling undersøger, hvordan syriske flygtninges retur efter Assads fald gøres praktisk muligt gennem administrative, juridiske og humanitære greb, før det nødvendigvis opfylder kravene til varig, frivillig repatriering. Den udvikler idéen om returnabilitetsgabet: afstanden mellem retur som en institutionel proces, der kan certificeres, faciliteres, revurderes, testes og tælles, og repatriering som en varig løsning forankret i reelt valg, stabilitet, rettigheder og tilhørsforhold. Studiet anvender kvalitativ dokumentanalyse, en WPR-inspireret policy-tilgang, der undersøger hvordan politikredskaber definerer problemer, samt en kurateret samling af syriske stemmer. Først kortlægges, hvordan retur styres gennem certificering, facilitering, juridisk revurdering, informationspraksisser og optælling. Dernæst vises, hvordan syriske perspektiver udfordrer denne styring ved at rejse spørgsmål om frivillighed, endelighed og sammenhæng. Analysen finder, at retur i en post-Assad kontekst er reel og ofte ønsket, men også præget af forhastet afslutning. Retur kan være ærligt ønsket, men formet af forringede alternativer; registreret som bevægelse, mens det stadig er midlertidigt; og oplevet som en hjemkomst uden at bolig, sikkerhed, tillid eller rettigheder bliver genoprettet. Returnabilitet sætter en lavere tærskel end varig repatriering, og dette gab er afgørende for, hvordan post-Assad retur bør forstås, styres og beskyttes.

[This apstract has been rewritten with the help of AI based on the project's original abstract]

Syria ; Return ; Returnability gap ; Returnee ; Refugee

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Jochumsen, Emil Lyster:

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