More than 200,000 Syrian refugees have voluntarily returned home from Jordan between December 2024 and June 2026, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported on Saturday. The announcement came on World Refugee Day, June 20, highlighting a significant increase in voluntary returns over the past two years.
Details of Returns
Yousef Taha, UNHCR spokesperson in Jordan, told Al-Mamlaka TV that 23,150 Syrian refugees have returned home since the beginning of 2026, including 2,500 refugees between June 1 and June 13. Returns are continuing at a steady pace, he added. Among those returning, approximately 82,000 were children.
Broader Trends in 2025
UNHCR data showed notable increases in returns to Syria during 2025. Between January and June 2025, almost 1 million internally displaced people returned to their home areas within Syria. During the same period, more than 526,000 Syrian refugees returned from abroad. By mid-September 2025, the total number of Syrian refugees returning from outside the country had risen to about 1 million.
World Refugee Day Message
World Refugee Day aims to highlight the suffering of displaced people and support efforts to find solutions through voluntary return, resettlement, or integration into host communities. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for stronger action to protect those forced to flee their homes due to conflict or persecution. In a message marking the day, he noted that millions of women, children, and men are forced to seek safety far from home as a result of both newly emerging conflicts and long-running crises.
Guterres emphasized the importance of upholding international refugee law, protecting the right to seek asylum, and finding solutions that enable refugees to live in safety and dignity. He called for stronger support for refugees and for the countries and communities that host them, adding that collective action is essential to protect the rights of those forced to flee.
