European Asylum Support Office

Syria
Socio-economic
situation:
Damascus CityCountry of Origin Information ReportCountry of Origin Information ReportFebruary 2020

SUPPORT IS OUR MISSION

European Asylum Support Office

Syria
Socio-economic
situation:
Damascus CityCountry of Origin Information ReportCountry of Origin Information ReportFebruary 2020

More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (http://europa.eu).
PDF: ISBN 978-92-9485-146-8

doi: 10.2847/35703

BZ0320017ENN© European Asylum Support Office (EASO) 2020
Reproduction is authorised, provided the source is acknowledged, unless otherwise stated.
For third-party materials reproduced in this publication, reference is made to the
copyrights statements of the respective third parties.

Cover photo: © Ugurhan, istock, Aerial view of Damascus City, uploaded 27 June
2018, https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/damascus-gm986594964-267609495

EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT - SYRIA – SOCIO-ECONOMIC SITUATION – DAMASCUS CITY — 3

Acknowledgements
This report was drafted by the European Asylum Support Office COI Sector. The following departments
and organisations have reviewed the report:
Austria, Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum, Country of Origin Information
Department
ACCORD, the Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation

It must be noted that the review carried out by the mentioned departments, experts or organisations
contributes to the overall quality of the report, but does not necessarily imply their formal
endorsement of the final report, which is the full responsibility of EASO.

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EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT - SYRIA: SOCIOECONOMIC SITUATION – DAMASCUS CITY

Contents
Acknowledgements................................................................................................................................. 3Contents .................................................................................................................................................. 4
Disclaimer................................................................................................................................................ 6
Glossary and Abbreviations .................................................................................................................... 7
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 8
Methodology ...................................................................................................................................... 8
Quality control .................................................................................................................................... 8
Sources ............................................................................................................................................... 9
Structure and use of the report .......................................................................................................... 9
Map ....................................................................................................................................................... 10
1. City overview..................................................................................................................................... 11
1.1 Demographics and ethno-religious composition ....................................................................... 11
1.2 Displacement and return ............................................................................................................ 12
1.3 Humanitarian situation and assistance ...................................................................................... 13
2. Freedom of movement ..................................................................................................................... 17
2.1 Freedom of movement ............................................................................................................... 17
2.2 Damascus Airport and flight connections................................................................................... 18
2.3 Wanted lists ................................................................................................................................ 19
2.4 Checkpoints ................................................................................................................................ 20
2.5 Civil documentation.................................................................................................................... 22
3. Key socio-economic indicators ......................................................................................................... 24
3.1 Economic overview ..................................................................................................................... 24
3.2 Food security .............................................................................................................................. 24
3.3 Housing and shelter .................................................................................................................... 25
3.4 Utilities, hygiene and sanitation ................................................................................................. 27
3.5 Health care.................................................................................................................................. 28
3.6 Education for children ................................................................................................................ 32
3.7 Means of basic subsistence and employment............................................................................ 36
4. Support to specific groups ................................................................................................................ 39
4.1 Orphans ...................................................................................................................................... 39
4.2 Trafficking victims and sexual/gender-based violence victims .................................................. 39
4.3 People with disabilities ............................................................................................................... 40

EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT - SYRIA – SOCIO-ECONOMIC SITUATION – DAMASCUS CITY — 5

5. Networks of support ......................................................................................................................... 41
Annex 1: Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 42
Annex 2: Terms of Reference ................................................................................................................ 52

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EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT - SYRIA: SOCIOECONOMIC SITUATION – DAMASCUS CITY

Disclaimer
This report was written according to the EASO COI Report Methodology (2019)1. The report is basedon carefully selected sources of information. All sources used are referenced.
The information contained in this report has been researched, evaluated and analysed with utmost
care. However, this document does not claim to be exhaustive. If a particular event, person ororganisation is not mentioned in the report, this does not mean that the event has not taken place orthat the person or organisation does not exist.
Furthermore, this report is not conclusive as to the determination or merit of any particularapplication for international protection. Terminology used should not be regarded as indicative of aparticular legal position.
‘Refugee’, ‘risk’ and similar terminology are used as generic terminology and not in the legal sense as
applied in the EU Asylum Acquis, the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the
Status of Refugees.
Neither EASO nor any person acting on its behalf may be held responsible for the use which may bemade of the information contained in this report.
This report was finalised on 30 January 2020. Any event taking place after this date is not included inthis report. More information on the reference period for this report can be found in the methodology
section of the Introduction.

1 The EASO methodology is largely based on the Common EU Guidelines for processing Country of Origin Information (COI),

2008, and can be downloaded from the EASO website: http://www.easo.europa.eu.

EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT - SYRIA – SOCIO-ECONOMIC SITUATION – DAMASCUS CITY — 7

Glossary and Abbreviations
Al-Yarmouk camp

Main refugee camp for Palestinians; located in Damascus

DAM

Damascus International Airport

DIS

Danish Immigration Service

GBV

Gender-based violence

HNO

Humanitarian Needs Overview

IDP

Internally Displaced Person

ISIL

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant; Daesh; Islamic State; Islamic Stateof Iraq and Syria

MoH

Ministry of Health

Mohafaza

Territorial administrative subdivisions used in Syria; Syria has 14 suchgovernorates

MoHE

Ministry of Higher Education

PHC

Primary Healthcare Centre

SYP

Syrian Pound

Wasta

Networks of support based on patronage

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EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT - SYRIA: SOCIOECONOMIC SITUATION – DAMASCUS CITY

Introduction
The purpose of this report is to provide relevant information regarding the socio-economic situation
in Damascus City for use in the context of international protection status determination, including
refugee status and subsidiary protection, especially in view of the EASO country guidancedevelopment on Syria.
This report is produced in line with the EASO COI Report Methodology (2019)2 and the EASO COI
Writing and Referencing Guide (2019).3
This report should be read in conjunction with further 2019-2020 EASO COI reports on Syria, such asreports titled Security situation (November 2019), Actors (December 2019), Exercise of authority inrecaptured areas (January 2020), Situation of women (February 2020), and other reports publishedon the EASO website. These reports provide relevant information regarding topics such as the main
armed actors, targeted violence, and armed conflict developments in Syria for the purpose ofdeveloping country guidance on Syria.

Methodology
This report contains information on the conflict in Syria since 2011 but focuses primarily on recent
trends, with updated information on 2019 where available. The information gathered is a result ofresearch using public, specialised paper-based and electronic sources until 3 January 2020. Some
additional information was added during the finalisation of this report in response to feedback
received from the peer review and quality control process, up until 30 January 2020.
The terms of reference (ToR) of this report were defined by EASO based on discussions held and input
received from COI experts in the EASO Specialist COI network on Syria and from policy experts in EU+
countries4 within the framework of a Country Guidance development on Syria.
The ToR for this report can be found in the annex II. This report covers a number of key socio-economic
indicators useful for understanding the socio-economic situation in Damascus, as well as mobility
related issues.
Due to the fast depreciation of the Syrian pound (SYP), in places in the report where unconverted SYP
information appears, an approximate conversion has been added using historical currency conversion
based on the time the source was published. To illustrate the currency drop’s impact in Syria, notethat in January 2020, for example, the Financial Times reported that the Syrian Pound was in a ‘freefall’
and that there had been estimated increased prices changes in staple foods in Syria between Octoberand December 2019 that went up in Damascus as follows: cooking fuel (about 38 %), milk (over 30 %),meat (almost 30 %), water (25 %). Across Syria, food commodities have increased in price by 20-30 %since October 2019.5

Quality control
In line with the EASO COI Report Methodology, a peer review was performed by COI researchers fromthe departments listed as reviewers in the Acknowledgements section.

2 EASO, EASO Country of Origin Information (COI) Report Methodology, June 2019, url
3 EASO, Writing and Referencing Guide for EASO Country of Origin Information (COI) Reports, June 2019, url
4 All EU Member States plus Norway and Switzerland
5 FT, Syrian regime struggles to sop currency freefall, 20 January 2020, url

EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT - SYRIA – SOCIO-ECONOMIC SITUATION – DAMASCUS CITY — 9

SourcesThis report largely relied on open source information available through online desk-based research.
The report also draws heavily from two reports: the Danish Immigration Service COI report on thesocio-economic situation in Damascus city (March 2019)6, based on Skype interviews with sources inDamascus and Beirut, and the joint Danish Immigration Service / Danish Refugee Council COI reporton the security situation in Damascus Province and issues regarding return to Syria (February 2019)7,
based on interviews conducted between 16 to 27 November 2018 in Beirut and Damascus.

Structure and use of the report
The report is structured in line with the Terms of Reference. The first section provides a brief overview
of Damascus City; the second chapter covers issues related to freedom of movement; the thirdchapter provides an overview of key socio-economic indicators for Damascus; and the final section
provides information on certain groups such as orphans and victims of sexual/gender-based violence,and networks of support.

6 Denmark, DIS, The Socio-Economic Situation in Damascus City, March 2019, url, p. 6
7 Denmark, DIS/DRC, Syria – Security Situation in Damascus Province Regarding Return to Syria, February 2019, url10 —EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT - SYRIA: SOCIOECONOMIC SITUATION – DAMASCUS CITY

Map

Map 1: Syria, United Nations8

For a detailed map of Damascus city, consult the reference map of 2016 created by the United Nations
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA).9

8 UN, Syrian Arab Republic, Map No. 4204 Rev. 3, April 2012, url

9

UNOCHA, Damascus City Reference Map as of 22 September 2016, 29 September 2016, url

EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT - SYRIA – SOCIO-ECONOMIC SITUATION – DAMASCUS CITY — 11

1. City overview
The city and the governorate of Damascus is divided into 16 main administrative districts: Barzeh,
Qaboun, Jobar, Al-Shaghour, Al-Midan, Al-Qadam, Kafr Sousa, Dummar, Al-Mazzeh, Rukn Al-Din, AlSalihiyah, Al-Mouhajrin, Saroujah, Al-Qanawat, Old Damascus, and Al-Yarmouk camp.10 Damascus is
the capital of the Syrian Arab Republic, located in the southwest of the country. It is Syria’s principal
city and is surrounded by the territories of the Governorate of Rural Damascus.11 The administrative
boundaries between the city of Damascus and Rural Damascus are difficult to distinguish due to close
connections between their environs.12

1.1 Demographics and ethno-religious composition
According to the latest general census of population and housing, conducted by the Syrian
government in 2004, the governorate of Damascus had 1 552 161 inhabitants, 796 212 of whom weremen and 755 949 women.13 The Syrian Central Bureau of Statistics estimated the population of theGovernorate of Damascus at 1 849 000 as of the middle of 2014 and 2 011 000 as of 2016.14 UNHCR
estimated a total population of the capital at 1 925 387, comprising 1 273 068 resident inhabitants,
647 602 internally displaced persons (IDPs), and 4 717 returnees, as of the end of 2017;15 returnees
increased to 16 200 by 2019 according to UNOCHA reporting.16 The US government’s CIA World
Factbook gives an estimate of 2.4 million as of 2019.17 Urban areas of the governorates of Damascus,
Rural Damascus and Aleppo have the largest figures regarding the population share of people over
the age of 60 in Syria.18
Accurate and updated information on the ethno-religious composition of Damascus could not befound. In its report on religious freedoms in Syria for 2018, the US Department of State (USDOS)
reports on the presence of Alawites, Twelver Shia, and Christians in Damascus, without specifying thesize of the communities.19
According to church statistics, the Armenian community in Damascus comprised around 10 000
Armenian Orthodox and around 4 000 Armenian Catholics as of 2010.20 USDOS stated that it was
unclear if any Jews remained in Syria; there had been a small community in Aleppo and Damascus
prior to the civil war with less than 20 Jews remaining by 2012.21 The Christian population in Damascus
remained largely stable22 and not affected by migration at the same level as other Syrian cities. As

10 ACU, The Demographic Change & Forced Displacement in Syria. Homs – Damascus & its Rural – Aleppo & its Rural, 20 June

2017, url, p. 18; Abdin, Y., The Fragility of Community Security in Damascus and its Environs, International Review of the Red
Cross, (IRRC No. 906), April 2019, url
11 Abdin, Y., The Fragility of Community Security in Damascus and its Environs, International Review of the Red Cross, (IRRC
No. 906), April 2019, url, p. 901
12 Abdin, Y., The Fragility of Community Security in Damascus and its Environs, International Review of the Red Cross, (IRRC
No. 906), April 2019, url, p. 900
13 Syria, Central Bureau Of Statistics, General Census, n.d., url
14 Syria, Central Bureau Of Statistics, Statistical Abstract for years 2012-2017, 2017, n.d., url
15 UNHCR, Syria/Damascus/Factsheet, January - December 2017, url, p. 1
16 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview 2019 – Syrian Arab Republic, March 2019, url, pp. 30-31
17 US, CIA, The World Factbook, Middle East: Syria, last updated 9 January 2020, url
18 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview 2019 – Syrian Arab Republic, March 2019, url, p. 25
19 USDOS, International Religious Freedom Report for 2018 - Syria, 21 June 2019, url, p. 4
20 Gulf News, Syria’s Armenian quarter, 29 October 2010, url
21 USDOS, International Religious Freedom Report for 2018 - Syria, 21 June 2019, url, p. 4
22 Oehring, O., Christians in Syria: Current Situation and Future Outlook, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, February 2017, url, p. 15

12 —EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT - SYRIA: SOCIOECONOMIC SITUATION – DAMASCUS CITY

stated by the Syriac Catholic Archbishop, the Syriac Catholic Archdiocese of Damascus is comprised ofabout 1 000 families, compared to 1 200 families before the war.23
Many districts and neighbourhoods of Damascus and its environs are formed according to ethnicity
and/or religions of their inhabitants.24 Thus, the Kurds largely reside in the districts of Rukn al-Din andBarzeh and poor informal settlements, for example in the Wadi al-Mashari neighbourhood in
Dummar.25

1.2 Displacement and return
There were a total of about 625 000 long-term internally displaced people in Damascus, according to
UNOCHA’s 2019 Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) report on Syria from March 2019.26 IDPs live on
43 sites in Damascus, the majority of which are ‘collective centres’ (public buildings, factories, etc used
to house 5 or more IDP families) or informal settlements where they encounter poor access to basic
services.27
UNOCHA provided an excel table published in January 2020 that provides a summary of IDP
movements and IDP spontaneous returns in Syria for 2017-2019, including in Damascus28:

Governorate2016 Total

2017 Total

2018 Total

2019 Total

Total

Aleppo821,865642,694

494,190437,874

2,396,623

Al-Hasakeh

59,506

297,408

32,016

136,773525,703

Ar-Raqqa

65,314

491,081

22,49058,101

636,986

As-Sweida

12,833

3,809

12,661

362

29,665

Damascus

24,57947,053

7,479

2,409

81,520Dar'a

226,843

125,605130,256

Deir-ez-Zor

42,814

253,366

26,30451,558374,042Hama

146,246

105,067

15,0292,412

268,754

Homs

63,18825,241

4,511

13,385

106,325

Idleb

529,168

639,321685,891

1,095,958

2,950,338

Lattakia

15,702

16,52818,365

16,70367,298Quneitra482,704

7,232

21,801

24,78739

53,859Rural Damascus

118,854

113,783

148,8442,602

384,083

Tartous14,354

14,31011,161

9,754

49,5792,148,498

2,797,067

1,633,984

1,827,930

8,407,479

Grand Total

Figure 1: UNOCHA, Syria: IDPs arrival to governorate (incl. displacement to location within governorate or from outside) 29

23 Crux, New Damascus archbishop eager to give hope to tired faithful, 23 July 2019, url
24 Abdin, Y., The Fragility of Community Security in Damascus and its Environs, International Review of the Red Cross, (IRRC

No. 906), April 2019, url, p. 900
25 Denmark, DIS, Syria – Consequences of illegal exit, consequences of leaving a civil servant position without notice and thesituation of Kurds in Damascus, June 2019, url, pp. 8-9
26 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview 2019 – Syrian Arab Republic, March 2019, url, pp. 16, 31
27 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview 2019 – Syrian Arab Republic, March 2019, url, pp. 56-58
28 UNOCHA, Syrian Arab Republic: IDP movements and IDP spontaneous return movements data for Dec-2019 [second sheet
tab – Summary since 2016], January 2020, url
29
UNOCHA, Syrian Arab Republic: IDP movements and IDP spontaneous return movements data for Dec-2019 [second sheet
tab – Summary since 2016], January 2020, url

EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT - SYRIA – SOCIO-ECONOMIC SITUATION – DAMASCUS CITY — 13

Governorate2017 Total

2018 Total

2019 Total

Total

AleppoAl-Hasakeh
Ar-Raqqa
As-Sweida
Damascus
Dar'a
Deir-ez-Zor
Hama
Homs
Idleb
Lattakia
QuneitraRural Damascus

469,729
10,28762,081
199
6,971
13,540524
120,757
9,540
32,817132665
37,068

177,790
18,709160,861
2,460
12,822446,710
173,636
48,01935,129138,085605
42,751
156,995

64,45554,53011,824
1,645
342
89,55278,90524,87043,96079,9198,583
35,550711,974
83,526
234,766
4,304
20,135549,802
253,065
193,646
88,629250,821737
51,999229,613

Grand Total

764,310

1,414,572

494,135

2,673,017

Figure 2: UNOCHA, Syria: IDP return movements to governorate (2017-2019 data summary)30

1.3 Humanitarian situation and assistance
UNOCHA’s 2019 HNO report stated that in 2018, there were ‘some areas that changed territorial
control have witnessed reduced restrictions imposed on humanitarian access as well as civilian andcommercial movement, resulting in overall improvements in the humanitarian situation, such as areas
in southern Damascus’.31 However, the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index for 2019
rated Damascus as the least liveable city for the seventh year in a row out of 150 cities ranked for theirurban quality of life.32 The inhabitants are reported to face difficulties with purchasing cooking gas
and foodstuffs and finding affordable housing.33 Due to a high number of IDPs, the capital has faced adecline in healthcare and basic, secondary, and university education.34

30

UNOCHA, Syrian Arab Republic: IDP movements and IDP spontaneous return movements data for Dec-2019 [second sheet
tab – Summary since 2016], January 2020, url
31 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview 2019 – Syrian Arab Republic, March 2019, url, p. 36
32 The Economist Intelligence Unit is the research and analysis division of The Economist Group, the sister company to The
Economist newspaper. It submits an annual report which ranks 150 cities for their urban quality of life.With sectarian militias,
attacks, and daily detention of civilians, the overall situation in Damascus ranks the least by the EIU’s standards of liveability,
which include stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. Scene Arabia, This Arab city was
ranked the least liveable in the world in 2019, 4 September 2019, url
33 Syria Direct, Between bread queues and shifting red lines, war-weary Damascus residents navigate a city in flux, 1 April
2019, url
34 Abdin, Y., The Fragility of Community Security in Damascus and its Environs, International Review of the Red Cross, (IRRC
No. 906), April 2019, url, p. 911

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According to the 2019 HNO by UNOCHA, there were 713 000 reported as ‘people in need’35 inDamascus governorate and 468 000 ‘people in acute need’.36 UNOCHA reported that about 38 % of
people with the ‘highest severity of needs’ (1.9 million people), are in Aleppo and Idlib governorates,‘while another 38 per cent are in government-controlled areas of Damascus, Rural Damascus, Dar’aand Quneitra governorates’.37
The majority of ‘people in need’ in Syria live in areas under government control including Syria’s four
major cities (Damascus, Homs, Hama, Aleppo) as well as ‘most provincial capitals’, according to
UNOCHA.38 There are a range of UN agencies, international humanitarian organisations and civilsociety NGOs providing humanitarian assistance and aid to displaced persons in Syria. They provided
food, medical assistance, and vaccinations, but required government authorisation to do so, which
was not always granted, sometimes preventing organisations from doing their work.39 IDPs remain
heavily dependent on humanitarian assistance as a coping mechanism.40
UNOCHA’s HNO 2019 provided the following breakdown regarding the population of people in needin Syria, including in Damascus Governorate, broken down by the sector of need41:

35

According to UNOCHA, People in Need (PIN) refers to ‘people whose physical security, basic rights, dignity, living conditions
or livelihoods are threatened or have been disrupted, and whose current level of access to basic services, goods andprotection is inadequate to re-establish normal living conditions within their accustomed means without assistance. People
in acute need refers to those facing more severe forms of deprivation in terms of their security, basic rights and living
conditions and face life-threatening needs requiring urgent humanitarian assistance’. UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs
Overview 2019 – Syrian Arab Republic, March 2019, url, p. 8
PIN and acute PIN have been calculated based on the inter-sector severity categorisation tool which is accessible at:https://hno-syria.org/#severity-of-needs
36 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview 2019 – Syrian Arab Republic, March 2019, url, p. 31
37 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview 2019 – Syrian Arab Republic, March 2019, url, p. 34
38 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview 2019 – Syrian Arab Republic, March 2019, url, p. 36
39 Netherlands, MFA, Country of Origin Information Report Syria, The Security Situation, (June/July 2019), July 2019, url,
p. 77; UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview 2019 – Syrian Arab Republic, March 2019, url, p. 43
40 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview 2019 – Syrian Arab Republic, March 2019, url, p. 52
41 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview 2019 – Syrian Arab Republic, March 2019, url, p. 32. Sector abbreviations: CCCM
(camp coordination and camp management, including camp living conditions); ERL (Early Recovery and Livelihoods, including
employment, basic social services, livlihoods, social cohesion); NFI (Non-Food Items, including basic items like fuel andclothing); WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, including sewerage)

EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT - SYRIA – SOCIO-ECONOMIC SITUATION – DAMASCUS CITY — 15

Figure 3: UNOCHA, People in Need By Sector and Governorate42

The UNOCHA’s inter-sectorial severity of needs map for 2019 provides an overview of the areas withthe most people in need43:

42

UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview 2019 – Syrian Arab Republic, March 2019, url, p. 32

43 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview 2019 – Syrian Arab Republic, March 2019, url, p. 35

16 —EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT - SYRIA: SOCIOECONOMIC SITUATION – DAMASCUS CITY

Figure 4: UNOCHA, Inter-sectoral severity of needs 201944

44 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview 2019 – Syrian Arab Republic, March 2019, url, p. 36

EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT - SYRIA – SOCIO-ECONOMIC SITUATION – DAMASCUS CITY — 17

2. Freedom of movement
2.1 Freedom of movement
Freedom of movement is provided for under the Syrian constitution unless restricted by a ‘judicial
decision or by the implementation of laws’; however, in practice, within the country, the government
and armed groups restricted mobility and used checkpoints to control access to territory; theunpredictability and violence ‘severely restricted movement throughout the country’.45
Citizens are allowed to travel internationally but the government denied access to passports and civil
documentation based on political views, association with the opposition, or geographical location
associated with the opposition. The Syrian government imposed exit visa requirements and closely
monitored Damascus airport and border crossings.46 USDOS reported that the government‘comprehensively banned international travel of opposition members, often targeting any suchindividual who attempted to travel’ and human rights groups reported that activists and their families
feared being attacked at airports and border crossings upon attempting to leave.47
The Danish Immigration Service (DIS) wrote that as of August 2018, the government announced acircular that Syrians who left the country illegally during the war would not encounter problems
because of illegal exit; whilst previously, under Law 14 of 2014, illegal exit was punishable in principlewith imprisonment and fines. The DIS produced a 2019 report on consequences of illegal exit, in whichsources stated that they did not know of cases of people punished solely for illegal exit; noting thatthose who face problems on return are those with other security problems with the government.
According to two sources interviewed by DIS, ‘by legalizing their status at a Syrian representation
abroad prior to return to Syria, persons who have left Syria illegally can return without facing any
problem’.48 However, sources indicate that Syrians who return must agree to sign loyalty pledges to
the government, including providing extensive background information and signed statements tocooperate with authorities, or must enter reconciliation agreements.49 According to a 2019 report on
risks of return to Syria, produced by the European Institute of Peace (EIP)50, ‘all Syrians returning to
the jurisdiction of the state are forced to interact directly with the security sector’ including
volunteering extensive background information that may incriminate them or their family memberswith no guarantees about how information will be used, with security services controlling local andindividual reconciliation processes, returns of refugees and IDPs and reconstruction efforts in Syria.51
According to Amnesty International (AI), returning refugees require the government’s prior approval
to return and those wishing to return to their area of origin are requested to undergo a security
clearance and interrogation by security services.52

45 USDOS, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2018 – Syria, 13 March 2019, url, pp. 47-48
46 USDOS, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2018 – Syria, 13 March 2019, url, pp. 47-48
47 USDOS, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2018 – Syria, 13 March 2019, url, p. 49
48 Denmark, DIS, Syria – Consequences of illegal exit, consequences of leaving a civil servant position without notice and thesituation of Kurds in Damascus, June 2019, url, pp. 6-7
49 EIP, Return in Syria: Dangers, Security Risks, and Information Scarcity, July 2019, url, pp. 5-6; Washington Post (The), Assadurged Syrian refugees to come home. Many are being welcomed with arrest and interrogation, 2 June 2019, url; News
Deeply, Dangerous Exit: Who Controls How Syrians in Lebanon Go Home, 8 August 2018, url
50 The EIP is an independent European peacemaking organisation that initially launched by the Foreign Ministers of Sweden
and Finland in 2010. It provides practical and technical expertise and policy advice on conflict resolution. It was founded tosupport European efforts to respond to global peace challenges. After consultations with EU governments, conflict resolution
organisations, EU institutions, and senior peace and security experts, EIP’s statutes were signed in 2014. The founding
members of its Board of Governors were were Belgium, Finland, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Spain, Sweden, andSwitzerland. EIP, About Us, n.d., url
51 EIP, Return in Syria: Dangers, Security Risks, and Information Scarcity, July 2019, url, pp. 5-8
52 AI, Q&A- Why are returns of refugees from Lebanon to Syria premature? 12 June 2019, url

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The EIP reported in July 2019 that the overall number of returning Syrians and IDPs to Syria was a ‘tiny
percentage’ of the 13.2 million Syrians displaced in and out of Syria; with the UN being unable to keep
direct oversight over returns due to lack of access estimates are difficult and vary between thegovernment of Syria, Russia, and UNHCR.53 UNHCR’s Portal on Refugee Returns to Syria stated that
there had been 230 418 ‘self-organized refugee returns’ documented by UNHCR from 2016 to 31
December 2019.54
The UN’s Office of the High Commmissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) stated in February 2019 that,at that time despite changes in the situation in Syria, those returning face a lack of rule of law,widespread human rights violations and poor economic prospects; ‘safe and sustainable returns’ were
not possible due to continuing hostilities.55 In March 2019, UNHCR published its regional operationalframework for refugee return to Syria in which UNHCR stated that although the pace of returns to andwithin Syria has increased over the past two years, ‘sufficient guarantees are not yet in place to allow
for large-scale facilitated voluntary repatriation’.56 The German government’s website withinformation about voluntary returns, consulted on 6 December 2019, states that IOM does notsupport voluntary returns to Syria due to the ‘difficult situation’ within the country.57

2.2 Damascus Airport and flight connections
Damascus International Airport (DAM) is located 30 km southeast of downtown Damascus; about 30
minutes by car.58 Damascus airport is reportedly controlled by Air Force Intelligence services.59 Air
Force Intelligence also reportedly controls Qamishli airport.60 Security corporation Gardaworld wrote
on 28 November 2019 that the security situation at Damascus airport had ‘improved significantly’ overthe past 12 months, however, there was still an ‘elevated risk’ of collateral damage to aircrafts due toIsraeli airstrikes on the Iranian presence there.61 In January 2019, Israeli airstrikes on alleged Iraniantargets cause extensive damage to the Damascus airport facilities.62 According to Gardaworld, as of 5
April 2019 most of Syria’s airports are not in operation and while Damascus International Airport is
identified as operational, ‘most flights have been suspended’. Travel into Syria from Lebanon via landborder crossings is also possible.63 Similarly, a February 2019 report by the DIS and the Danish RefugeeCouncil (DRC) indicated that the airport is ‘partially operational’ but that most people who return fromforeign countries enter through the Lebanese land border and that the large majority of returning
refugees do not do so through the airport; those who enter from the airport are ‘middle class’ Syrians.
The airport is reportedly running ‘very slowly’ due to the conflict impact, stated the report. 64
Damascus International Airport’s website posts a weekly timetable which, when checked in November
2019, showed arrivals coming from Iraq, Dubai, Bahrain, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar.65

53 EIP, Return in Syria: Dangers, Security Risks, and Information Scarcity, July 2019, url, p. 18
54 UNHCR, Syria Regional Refugee Response: Durable Solutions – Self-organized Refugee Returns to Syria 2016-2019, n.d.

[Last updated 31 December 2019], url
55 UN, Human Rights Council, UN Commission of Inquiry: Continued hostilities and lawlessness countrywide render safe andsustainable returns impossible, 28 February 2019, url
56 UNHCR, Regional Operational Framework for Refugee Return to Syria, March 2019, url, p. 3
57 Germany, BAMF, and IOM, Country Information – Syrian Arab Republic, n.d., url
58 DAM, Maps of Damascus Airport, n.d., url
59 New York Times (The), Inside Syria’s Secret Torture Prisons: How Bashar al-Assad Crushed Dissent, 11 May 2019, url
60 SOHR, Intelligence of the regime releases tens of citizens women of “Arbin” after being arrested at Qamishli airport
northeast Syria, 18 October 2019, url
61 Gardaworld, Syria – Country Report, Executive Summary, updated 28 November 2019, url
62Times of Israel, Satellite images show damage at Damascus airport after Israeli raids, 22 January 2019, url
63 Gardaworld, Syria – Country Report, Transportation, updated 5 April 2019, url
64 Denmark, DIS/DRC, Syria – Security Situation in Damascus Province Regarding Return to Syria, February 2019, url, pp. 2627
65 DAM, Damascus airport timetable, url; the website provides schedules for Monday through Sunday and all days werechecked/clicked. The flight tracking website Flightaware also provided a list of flights arriving into Damascus from

EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT - SYRIA – SOCIO-ECONOMIC SITUATION – DAMASCUS CITY — 19

In terms of domestic flights, Cham Wings offers domestic flights between Damascus and Qamishli on
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.66

2.3 Wanted lists
Syria’s security services maintain ‘wanted lists’ that may be checked at checkpoints.67 The wanted lists
are for conscripts and those believed to be involved in opposing the Assad government. The head of
Air Force Intelligence has publicly claimed that its lists have 3 million names. This number could not
be verified. Syrian news site Zaman al Wasl also published a list with 1.5 million names.68 Each branchof Syria’s security services has its own wanted lists and they ‘do not coordinate their lists’ for clearing
names, according to several sources interviewed for a DIS/DRC report. The same source stated that it
was generally difficult for people to know their status with the Syrian government; however, thosewith money and connections can find out if their name is on wanted lists but this risks exposing themand is not a guarantee against difficulties, including risk of arrest.69 Passing through Syrian government
checkpoints has been reported to be linked to treatment such as arrest and extra-judicial detentions,torture, and forced disappearances.70 Sources reported that individuals who disappear and aredetained risk torture, arrest, execution, unfair trials, as well as death in detention.71
Sources reported on disappearances and arrests on return to Syria72, including from Damascus
international airport.73 About 18 women and children from Arbin were reportedly arrested at Qamishli
airport and held for a month in 2019 at a military detention centre after arriving there from DAM.74
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR)75 reported that from 2014 - August 2019 it documented
at least 1 916 arrests of Syrian refugees who returned to Syria; of these, 1 132 were released and 784
destinations Iraq, Kuwait, Dubai, and Qatar. Flightaware, Arrivals: Damascus Int’l Airport (Damascus), n.d. [accessed 29
November 2019], url
66 Cham Wings, Reservations [DAM to KAC], n.d. [accessed 29 November 2019], url; Fight tracking website Airportia shows
regular Cham Wings Airlines scheduled flights from DAM to Qamishly on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays] at Airportia, AlQamishli Airport KAC Arrivals, n.d., url
67 Denmark, DIS/DRC, Syria – Security Situation in Damascus Province Regarding Return to Syria, February 2019, url, p. 15;
EIP, Return in Syria: Dangers, Security Risks, and Information Scarcity, July 2019, url, p. 12; HRW, Syria: Detention,
Harassment in Retaken Areas, 21 May 2019, url; MEI, Despair and Decay – East Ghouta After 18 Months of Renewed Regime
Rule, November 2019, url, p. 9
68 EIP, Return in Syria: Dangers, Security Risks, and Information Scarcity, July 2019, url, p. 12
69 Denmark, DIS/DRC, Syria – Security Situation in Damascus Province Regarding Return to Syria, February 2019, url, p. 15
70 SNHR, At least 202 Cases of Arbitrary Arrests Documented in Syria in November 2019, 2 December 2019, url, pp. 2, 5, 9;
HRW, Syria: Detention, Harassment in Retaken Areas, 21 May 2019, url; Denmark, DIS, Syria – Access to Damascus Province
for Individuals from Former Rebel-held Areas, September 2019, url, pp. 12, 15; Irish Times (The), Road to Damascus: theSyrian refugees who want to go home, 2 December 2017, url; Washington Post (The), Assad urged Syrian refugees to comehome. Many are being welcomed with arrest and interrogation, 2 June 2019, url; SACD, Vengeance, Repression and Fear:
Reality Behind Assad’s Promises to Displaced Syrians, October 2019, url, p. 3
71 EIP, Return in Syria: Dangers, Security Risks, and Information Scarcity, July 2019, url, pp. 10-13; Washington Post (The),
Assad urged Syrian refugees to come home. Many are being welcomed with arrest and interrogation, 2 June 2019, url; SACD,
Vengeance, Repression and Fear: Reality Behind Assad’s Promises to Displaced Syrians, October 2019, url, p. 3; SAWA,
Unpacking Return: Syrian Refugees’ Conditions and Concerns, February 2019, url, pp. 31-32
72 FP, A Deadly Welcome Awaits Syria’s Returning Refugees, 6 February 2019, url; New Arab (The), The risk of return: Why
going home is not an option for all Syrians, 18 September 2019, url; Washington Post (The), Assad urged Syrian refugees tocome home. Many are being welcomed with arrest and interrogation, 2 June 2019, url; SAWA, Unpacking Return: Syrian
Refugees’ Conditions and Concerns, February 2019, url, pp. 31-32
73 New York Times (The), Inside Syria’s Secret Torture Prisons: How Bashar al-Assad Crushed Dissent, 11 May 2019, url; Irish
Times (The), Arrests and torture of Syrian refugees returning home reported, 17 March 2018, url; Irish Times (The), Road toDamascus: the Syrian refugees who want to go home, 2 December 2017, url
74 SOHR, Intelligence of the regime releases tens of citizens women of “Arbin” after being arrested at Qamishli airport
northeast Syria, 18 October 2019, url
75 SNHR is an independent, non-governmental, non-profit organisation involved in documenting human rights violations in
Syria, adhereing to the standards and international conventions on human rights issued by the UN. For more information,
visit: SNHR, About Us, n.d., url20 —EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT - SYRIA: SOCIOECONOMIC SITUATION – DAMASCUS CITY

remained detained, of whom 638 were ‘forcibly disappeared’. SNHR documented 15 cases ofreturnees who were reportedly killed due to torture. Cases of arrests and enforced disappearences ofrefugees who had settled their cases with security services through consulates or committees forreconciliation were also reported.76

2.4 Checkpoints
A February 2019 report by DIS/DRC indicated that, according to sources they interviewed, there arecheckpoints on the road between the airport and Damascus city.77
DIS/DRC reported that according to several different interviewed sources, checkpoints have‘significantly been reduced’ in Damascus province and in the city since May 2018 (90 % removed) andare concentrated around the central Old City and Mazzeh District; though they are mostly focused on
entrances into Damascus, such as highways from Lebanon, at the airport, and on the M5 Highway
toward Homs. There are greater numbers of checkpoints in former opposition-held areas and stilloccasional ‘flying checkpoints’ by pro-government forces, though mainly in areas such as Eastern
Ghouta.78 According to the same source, different forces control checkpoints in different areas ofDamascus, particularly intelligence services, and especially Air Force Intelligence, as well as regularunits like the 4th Armoured Division and the Republican Guard. Regarding the thoroughness of checks,
Air Force Intelligence is reportedly considered the ‘strictest’. DIS/DRC sources reported varying
information on procedures at checkpoints: some stated that checks within Damascus are ‘often very
cursory’; others stated that checks at entrances and outside the city are ‘more thorough’ than inside
the city; while another said that inside the city and at the entrance of Damascus city, individuals
passing checkpoints are ‘controlled rigourously’ and DIS/DRC noted that the procedure andthoroughness depend on the force in charge.79
According to several sources listed by DIS/DRC in their February 2019 report, ‘at fixed checkpoints at
entrances and in areas in Damascus province outside the city authorities are looking for wanted
people, conscripts and evaders from military service’.80 Similarly, a confidential source in the
Netherlands’ 2019 COI report on Syria, almost all checkpoints have the capacity to check a person’s
background and military service status and these checks are made by a range of different agencies on
a computer or by phone at both mobile and fixed checkpoints. The report noted that the fact that aperson can pass a checkpoint without any checks on one day is not a guarantee this will happen thenext day; even those who are not sought can experience problems such as temporary detention or
having to pay bribes to pass the checkpoint.81 Christopher Kozak, Syria analyst for Institute for the
Study of War (ISW), was interviewed by the DIS for a report on access to Damascus published in
September 2019; he stated that the ‘Syrian government is suspicious of all individuals intending toenter Damascus City for being affiliated with the armed opposition, including individuals from former
opposition-held areas’. An international humanitarian organisation explained that ‘everyone is guilty
until proven innocent’. Multiple sources stated that the ‘level of opposition activity in an area’ (pastand present) and security sensitivity of the region of the person’s residence/registration are key towhether access to Damascus through checkpoints is allowed or not, noting that Eastern Ghouta andDouma residents had particular likelihood to be subjected to checks and questioning, or requiring

76 SNHR, The Syrian Regime Continues to Pose a Violent Barbaric Threat and Syrian Refugees Should Never Return to Syria,

15 August 2019, url, pp. 5-6
77 Denmark, DIS/DRC, Syria – Security Situation in Damascus Province Regarding Return to Syria, February 2019, url, p. 1278 Denmark, DIS/DRC, Syria – Security Situation in Damascus Province Regarding Return to Syria, February 2019, url, p.13
79 Denmark, DIS/DRC, Syria – Security Situation in Damascus Province Regarding Return to Syria, February 2019, url, p. 14
80 Denmark, DIS/DRC, Syria – Security Situation in Damascus Province Regarding Return to Syria, February 2019, url, p. 15
81 Netherlands, MFA, Country of Origin Information Report Syria, The Security Situation, (June/July 2019), July 2019, url, p. 53

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approval to enter Damascus.82 The founder of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), an
independent network that reports on human rights violations in Syria, said in the same DIS report that
if persons can document that they stayed abroad or not in an area controlled by the opposition during
the conflict they will ‘less likely face scrutiny at checkpoints’.83
Multiple sources interviewed by DIS/DRC for their February 2019 report mentioned several profiles
that risk encountering difficulties at checkpoints; multiple sources that spoke to DIS/DRC mentionedthat affiliation/connection with opposition groups impacted treatment at checkpoints ranging fromincreased scrutiny, to difficulties, to risk of detention. One source in the same report said that ‘very
few people’ encounter difficulties; authorities are checking IDs for wanted people and those witharmed group affiliations.84 However, the Syrian Association for Citizens’ Dignity (SACD)85 interviewed
350 returnee Syrians and stated to the Washington Post that it is exceptional if ‘nothing happens toyou’ when returning to government-held areas, noting that 75 % of the returnees they spoke to were
harassed at checkpoints, government offices, on the street, or conscripted, or arrested.86
According to EIP, reporting in July 2019, particular risk profiles for arrest tend to be those who returnto Syria without security permission or reconciliation in place prior to traveling, individuals who workor carry out activities believed to oppose the government (‘journalism, aid work, local councils, rescue
workers, men of military age, and those with family members who were forcibly displaced to Idlib or
Aleppo’).87 Profiles mentioned by DIS/DRC in their February 2019 report who were more likely to
encounter problems included a similar list:
‘People originating from former opposition-held areas and people who had residence in suchareas’, who may be subject to increased scrutiny or problems at checkpoints88; Christopher
Kozak also mentioned that people generally suspect people from opposition-held areas butthat the level of scrutiny depends on factors such as ethnicity, sect, political history andwanted status.89

‘Affiliation or connection to opposition groups has an impact on treatment at checkpoints,
which includes treatment ranging from additional scrutiny, facing difficulties and risk of being
withheld or detained’;90

Men in the age range for obligatory military service (18-42) ‘face the most difficulties when
passing checkpoints’ according to two sources interviewed by DIS/DRC; one of the sources
stated that ‘young men are at most risk when passing checkpoints,’ due to the need to clarify
their exact status with the government.91

82 Denmark, Syria – Access to Damascus Province for Individuals from Former Rebel-held Areas, September 2019, url, pp. 8-

9; See also UN, Human Rights Council, Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, Reportof the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, 15 August 2019, url, para. 73
83 Denmark, DIS, Syria – Access to Damascus Province for Individuals from Former Rebel-held Areas, September 2019, url, p.
1084 Denmark, DIS/DRC, Syria – Security Situation in Damascus Province Regarding Return to Syria, February 2019, url, pp. 15,
16, 1785 SACD is ‘a civil-rights grassroot population movement establishedby citizens from different regions of Syria’ that promotes
the rights of Syrian refugees and IDPs through advocacy. It has ‘no political affiliation’. For more information, see: SACD,
What is the SACD, n.d., url
86 Washington Post (The), Assad urged Syrian refugees to come home. Many are being welcomed with arrest andinterrogation, 2 June 2019, url
87 EIP, Return in Syria: Dangers, Security Risks, and Information Scarcity, July 2019, url, p. 5
88 Denmark, DIS/DRC, Syria – Security Situation in Damascus Province Regarding Return to Syria, February 2019, url , p. 15
89 Denmark, DIS, Syria – Access to Damascus Province for Individuals from Former Rebel-held Areas, September 2019, url,
p. 11
90 Denmark, DIS/DRC, Syria – Security Situation in Damascus Province Regarding Return to Syria, February 2019, url, p. 16
91 Denmark, DIS/DRC, Syria – Security Situation in Damascus Province Regarding Return to Syria, February 2019, url, p. 17

22 —EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT - SYRIA: SOCIOECONOMIC SITUATION – DAMASCUS CITY

People with similar names to ‘wanted people’ may also face scrutiny and there have beenreports of people being detained due to this, but usually those with ‘good connections’ arereleased.92

The DIS further remarked in its September 2019 report on access to Damascus that since thegovernment’s retaking areas of Damascus in summer 2018, minorities such as Christians, Shiite
Muslims, Alawites, and Druze are ‘not subjected to interrogation or checks at the checkpoints inDamascus’.93 However, they may be questioned if their name and place of residence on their ID carddoes not indicate that they are a minority; however, an international humanitarian organisation in thereport remarked that a person’s political affiliation and perceived loyalty was of greater focus ofgovernment scrutiny than ethnicity. Family members of individuals perceived to oppose thegovernment may be subjected to arrest, according to a source interviewed by DIS/DRC. The DIS/DRC
report also stated that individuals who are on the Syrian authorities’ wanted lists ‘would face serious
problems such as degrading treatment and arrest at checkpoints’.94 Conscripts who are caught are‘sent directly to a military training camp’ for 6 months, followed by military service.95
The World Bank’s 2020 report on mobility of displaced Syrians stated that insecurity‘disproportionately’ affected women and intensified restrictions on them, as they ‘face greater risks
in access to livelihoods and security’ as their ‘legally restricted mobility’ has been further impacted by
security and honour concerns in the conflict environment. The same report cited the UN Habitat’s
2016 report on urban communities, providing a graph showing that perceptions about restrictions on
freedom of movement in Syria were highest for: people without civil documentation (23 %), womentraveling alone (17 %) and girls traveling alone (11 %). In the same graph, 7-9 % of respondents
perceived other groups to have movement restrictions: men and boys and accompanied women andgirls who had a male companion.96 USDOS reported that women over 18 can legally travel withoutmale permission, but husbands can file orders to prevent them from leaving Syria; additionally,
cultural pressure and violence ‘severely restricted’ the movement of women in many areas of Syria.97
UNFPA wrote in 2019 that in Damascus governorate specifically, there were movement restrictions
on women and girls due to fear of gender-based violence (GBV) being perpetrated against them.98
For more information on the situation of women see the EASO COI Report: Syria - Situation of women(February 2020)

2.5 Civil documentation
According to a December 2019 COI report by the Netherlands, multiple confidential sources statedthat Syrian citizens must be able to identify themselves with an identity card from age 14; one
confidential source stated that the document is of ‘great importance’ as freedom of movement isrestricted by the presence of checkpoints of both the Syrian state and non-state actors.99

92 Denmark, DIS/DRC, Syria – Security Situation in Damascus Province Regarding Return to Syria, February 2019, url, pp. 17-18
93 Denmark, DIS, Syria – Access to Damascus Province for Individuals from Former Rebel-held Areas, September 2019, url,
p. 11
94 Denmark, DIS, Syria – Access to Damascus Province for Individuals from Former Rebel-held Areas, September 2019, url,
p. 12
95 Denmark, DIS/DRC, Syria – Security Situation in Damascus Province Regarding Return to Syria, February 2019, url, pp. 1718
96 World Bank, The Mobility of Displaced Syrians: An Economic and Social Analysis, 2020, url, p. 70 (Based on thegraphic/table from UN Habitat Urban Community Profiling Survey, 2016). Unable to access the original UN source in theWorld Bank Report.
97 USDOS, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2018 – Syria, 13 March 2019, url, pp. 47-49
98 UNFPA/WoS, Voices from Syria 2019 – Assessment Findings of the Humanitarian Needs Overview – Gender-based Violence
Area of Responsibility, 2019, url, pp. 61-62
99 Netherlands, MFA, Country of Origin Information Report Syria, Documents, December 2019, url, p. 51

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The World Bank’s 2020 report analysing the social and economic mobility of displaced Syrians
comments on the security-civil documentation nexus by citing the UN’s 2018 Humanitarian Needs
Assessment Programme (HNAP) in Syria for 2018, remarking that ‘lack of civil documentation andinsecurity feed each other’. Drawing on the HNAP, the World Bank stated that roughly 40 % of Syrians
surveyed lacked some form of official civil document (birth, marriage, or death certificate, ID card,
family booklet, or passport). However, this condition varies drastically across governorates:‘Whereas more than 8 out of 10 residents lack some official document in Idleb, almost theentire population in the governorates of As-Suweida and Homs was able to obtain the desired
documentation (about 99 percent). Lack of access to civil documentation was also grave forthe populations of Lattakia, Tartous, and Ar-Raqqa (about 75 percent for all three
governorates). In addition to geography, a person’s displacement status also affects the ability
to obtain civil documentation.’100
According to the same source, IDPs and returnees to Syria without civil documentation encountereda range of barriers, which varied in different regions of the country, but related to the following: being
unable to register birth/marriage/death, unable to access humanitarian assistance, restricted
freedom of movement, inability to access basic services such as healthcare and school registration,
inability to claim property, and arrest.101 Overall in Syria, 40 % of respondents (host community, IDPs,
returnees) said their freedom of movement was limited by lack of civil documentation.102 A WorldBank table about the impact of lack of civil documentation on Syrians, based on UNOCHA’s HNAP 2018
data, showed that the governorates with the highest number of people who lacked or had family wholacked civil documentation were Idleb (80 % or more), Lattakia, Tartous, Ar-Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor andAleppo. In Damascus governorate, around 5 % of the host community respondents surveyed indicatedthey or a family member were lacking ‘official Government of Syria-issued documentation’. Among
the returnees surveyed in Damascus, the figure of those who lacked official documentation wasslightly less than 5 %. Among the IDPs, the figure was, on the contrary, higher, around 10 %. The
reasons given for not obtaining the official documentation were the absence of Government of Syria(GoS) services to issue or replace the document (about 25 %) and that they could not afford to do so(nearly 50 %); security was not one of the reasons given. By contrast other governorates mainly listed
security and lack of GoS services as the main reasons.103
Of those who lacked documents in Damascus, the impact of the lack of civil documentation was given
by respondents as: restrictions on freedom of movement (nearly 60 % of respondents), the inability
to claim property (nearly 40 %), and the inability to access humanitarian aid (5 %).104
The Syrian Ministry of Interior and UNHCR jointly produced a booklet on Syrian personal
documentation in 2018 that states that identity card applications shall be filled at the civil registrywhere the applicant’s records are kept, or at the central department of Civil Affairs in the governorate
where they reside.105 Confidential sources from the Netherlands MFA’s July 2019 COI report statedthat it is theoretically possible for a displaced person to request and obtain civil documentation ingovernment areas, however that office would need to access documents in the person’s home region,
which is not always possible, leading the MFA to state that ‘the possibilities for IDPs from oppositionareas to obtain documents in government areas remain limited’. Additionally, the report remarked
that ‘this practice prevents some Syrians from applying for documents from the Syrian authorities or
100 World Bank, The Mobility of Displaced Syrians: An Economic and Social Analysis, 2020, url, p. 68
101 World Bank, The Mobility of Displaced Syrians: An Economic and Social Analysis, 2020, url, p. 69 (Summary of thegraphic/table)
102 World Bank, The Mobility of Displaced Syrians: An Economic and Social Analysis, 2020, url, pp. 11, 68
103 World Bank, The Mobility of Displaced Syrians: An Economic and Social Analysis, 2020, url, p. 68 (Summary of thegraphic/table 2.3)
104 World Bank, The Mobility of Displaced Syrians: An Economic and Social Analysis, 2020, url, p. 69 (Summary of thegraphic/table)
105 Syria/UNHCR, Civil Documentation and Registration in the Syrian Arab Republic, July 2018, url, p. 5

24 —EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT - SYRIA: SOCIOECONOMIC SITUATION – DAMASCUS CITY

Syrian diplomatic representations, as they fear that this may cause problems for themselves or their
loved ones’.106

3. Key socio-economic indicators
3.1 Economic overview
The World Bank’s 2020 report stated that the conflict has caused large numbers of casualties and has
had ‘devastating consequences for Syria’s economic activity’ due to the destruction of physical andhuman resources, forced migration and dissolution of economic networks.107 Syria’s GDP decreasedby 63 % between 2010 to 2016.108 In December 2019, the Syrian Pound rapidly declined in value,causing an overall increase in price of staple goods, including in Damascus.109 International sanctions
against Syria have reinforced the negative impact of the conflict on the Syrian economy.110 Bloomberg
News reported in April 2019 that the UN estimates that Syria needs roughly 250 billion USD to (re-)
launch its economy. The same article noted that Syria lacks funding from allies like Iran and Russia,
while facing economic pressure and embargos from the US, and the impact on Damascus city hascaused struggles with basic essentials: declines in economic activity, power cuts, gas shortages, andstrains on Syrian ‘social fabric’.111
The SACD’s 2019 report on the situation of returnees to government-held areas in 2019 reported that,in a general sense, ‘corruption and extortion’ by the government and its militias reportedly ‘permeate
every aspect of life for returnees’, including the ability to carry out menial tasks, obtain documents,
or transport goods to market.112 Corruption and bribes at checkpoints are a standard practice.113

3.2 Food security
According to UNOCHA’s 2019 HNO, 6.5 million Syrians were ‘food insecure’; in 2018, the proportionof people who were food insecure at the national level dropped 5 % compared to 2017.114 The UN’s
World Food Programme (WFP) reported in its October 2019 update on Syria that food insecurity is‘widespread’ across Syria due to high fuel and food prices, loss of livelihoods and reduced foodproduction.115 Syrian Centre for Policy Research (SCPR) reported that food availability ‘declined
significantly’ across Syria due to the conflict, with the perception of household food availability
declining from 97 % before the conflict to 60 % during the conflict; with the greatest difficulties being
in non-government controlled areas of the country. The government-controlled areas of Latakia,
Suweida and Tartous had ‘reasonable availability of food.116 The study found that there were higher
perceptions about lack of access to food in Raqqa, Quneitra, Hasaka, and the countryside/rural areas
around Damascus.117 The WFP reported in September 2019 that about 14 % of households in

106 Netherlands, MFA, Country of Origin Information Report Syria, The Security Situation (June/July 2019), July 2019, url,p. 78
107 World Bank, The Mobility of Displaced Syrians: An Economic and Social Analysis, 2020, url, p. 73
108 World Bank, The Toll of War, 10 July 2017, url, p. vii
109 Syria Direct, Residents of Damascus suffer under rising prices and economic slowdown, 8 December 2019, url
110 Syria Direct, Economic crisis looms as Syrian pound plummets to an all-time low, 26 November 2019, url
111 Bloomberg, Waiting 19 Hours for Gas in a Lifeless City, 26 April 2019, url
112 SACD, Vengeance, Repression and Fear: Reality Behind Assad’s Promises to Displaced Syrians, October 2019, url, p. 4
113 Netherlands, MFA, Country of Origin Information Report Syria, The Security Situation, (June/July 2019), July 2019, url,
p. 54
114 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview 2019 – Syrian Arab Republic, March 2019, url, p. 64
115 WFP, WFP Syria – Country Brief, October 2019, url, p. 1
116 SCPR, Food Security and Conflict in Syria, June 2019, url, p. 37
117 SCPR, Food Security and Conflict in Syria, June 2019, url, pp. 47-48

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Damascus City had ‘inadequate food consumption’ levels; while the highest rates of inadequacy werein Aleppo (41 %), Raqqa (39 %), Latakia and Homs (34 %), among others.118
UNOCHA stated in November 2017 that ‘food is widely available in Damascus albeit at high prices’.
The driving factors for food insecurity in Damascus City were identified as the high concentration of
IDPs, high food prices, limited employment opportunities and households with highly eroded
livelihood coping strategies.119 Similarly, in a March 2019 report by the DIS, who carried out a series
of interviews with sources for a report on the socio-economic situation, sources stated that ‘there is
no shortage of basic food items in Damascus City, and all items are found at different qualities andprices’. The same source remarked that there has been ‘a drastic increase in food prices due to a dropin the value of the Syrian pound. Low-income groups in the city can still afford to purchase basic fooditems but they have to prioritise and rationalise their food purchases due to the recent sporadic
increase of prices of some basic food items. People’s income does not match the expenses. Many
families have to rely on their extended family and networks, or financial support from friends orrelatives abroad to afford to feed their families’.120
Syrians often require multiple jobs to cover food costs.121 UNOCHA reported in March 2019 that thecosts of monthly food rations in Syria take about 80 % of a day labourer’s salary and about 50-80 % ofa public servant’s salary. 122 As of November 2019, the Syrian pound’s drop in value caused fluctuationsin prices of goods and impacted monthly incomes of Syrians.123 The currency drop also caused foodprices to increase and raising concerns that shortages of staple goods would soon follow.124

3.3 Housing and shelter
Syria is a highly urbanised society (estimated 73 %) with 37 % of the urbanised population living in thecities of Damascus and Aleppo.125
According to the World Bank, reporting in 2019, the conflict in Syria has ‘severely impacted the
housing sector, with a significant share of residential units that have been partially damaged or fully
destroyed, housing investment disrupted, quality of living space deteriorated, and land and property
rights severely challenged’. The conflict has caused an increase in rural to urban migration, and inareas with ‘relative security and consistency of services’ there have been ‘large influxes, with the net
result being a significant concentration of population (IDPs and hosts) in urban areas’.126 During theconflict years from 2011-2018, Damascus became a principal area of refuge for rural populations andDamascus has experienced a ‘housing crisis’, increased costs, unemployment and shortages in basic
services; many IDPs fled to informal settlements with high population density.127
Due to damage to housing stock and physical damages to housing infrastructure in conflict-affectedareas, ‘houses are not available for rent in most communities’ and only a minority can afford the rent
despite living in dwellings that do not offer ‘adequate protection from weather’ or are ‘not served

118 WFP, Syria m-VAM (August - September 2019) Issue no. 40, url
119 UNOCHA/WoS, Food Security Situation in Syria, November 2017, url, pp. 17-18
120 Denmark, DIS, The Socio-Economic Situation in Damascus City, March 2019, url, p. 6; The interviews were conducted withthe following organizations: World Health Organisation (WHO) in Damascus, the Humanitarian Access Team (HAT) of Mercy
Corps, an international humanitarian organization based in Damascus, and a humanitarian organization in Syria.
121 Los Angeles Times, Syria (barely) survived a civil war. Can it weather the latest financial crisis?, 29 November 2019, url
122 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview 2019 – Syrian Arab Republic, March 2019, url, p. 64
123 AW, Syrian currency hits all-time-low, 22 November 2019, url
124 Los Angeles Times, Syria (barely) survived a civil war. Can it weather the latest financial crisis?, 29 November 2019, url
125 World Bank, The Mobility of Displaced Syrians: An Economic and Social Analysis, 2020, url, p. 108
126 World Bank, The Mobility of Displaced Syrians: An Economic and Social Analysis, 2020, url, p. 108. See also the related
report: World Bank, The Toll of War, 10 July 2017, url, pp. 18-28
127 Abdin, Y., The Fragility of Community Security in Damascus and its Environs, International Review of the Red Cross, (IRRC
No. 906), April 2019, url, pp. 911-912

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well by public services’ accessible to services.128 The DIS report on Damascus City from March 2019
also stated that in recent years the cost of houses has been prohibitive meaning that ‘most people
cannot afford buying or renting a house or a flat inside the city’ and forcing many to live in poor
suburbs such as Mazzeh or Rukn al-Din where basic services are available but the infrastructure is‘vulnerable’, meaning slight damage can impact a larger area.129 Costs of rent and living are lower inthe suburbs with many Damascenes moving out to those areas, according to a 2019 paper by Yasser
Abdin, an urban planning professor at Damascus University, published in the International Review of
the Red Cross (IRRC).130 In Damascus city, ‘rental problems’ were the highest housing-related concern
to returnees (more than in any other region), followed by looting, and lastly property damages due to
conflict, according to the World Bank’s 2020 report on the mobility of displaced Syrians.131
The World Bank’s 2017 ‘Housing Deprivation Index’ summarised the average percentage of housingthat was ‘deprived’ across 10 different dimensions of housing amenities, such as lack of heating or
leaking during rain.132 The index for Syria indicated that the national average is 28 %; Damascus City
ranked at around the same as the national average, compared to Idlib (near 50 %) and Latakia (close
to 10 %).133
According to a source interviewed by DIS, in the past, ‘individuals had to obtain a security clearance
to rent a property inside Damascus City, but this requirement has been waived’; while another source
DIS interviewed explained that there were reports ‘that when people registered their leased housewith the local authorities, officers from security divisions would pay a visit to the leased house’ as a
new way of carrying out security checks instead or requiring a clearance.134 The Austrian COI Unit’s
October 2019 Country Report on Syria stated that according to information received in 2019 from its
confidential sources, Syrians returning to Syria cannot just settle in any place under government
control and that establishing residence is only possible with the approval of authorities. At the
beginning of 2019, the Syrian Ministry of the Interior announced that it would no longer require asecurity clearance as a prerequisite for registering a lease with municipalities135, but that a lease would
be registered at the municipality and the data then forwarded to the security authorities, so that the
security authorities could only raise objections afterwards. Apart from Damascus, this has not yet
been implemented. Outside Damascus, clearance must still be obtained. There were also reports
regarding Damascus that Syrians from other areas were not allowed to settle there.136

Displacement and property issues
In April 2018, the government passed Law No. 10, which authorises municipalities across Syria to‘earmark zones within their administrative boundaries’ for redevelopment and reconstruction. This
was an extension of the 2012 Decree No. 66 which was aimed at redeveloping ‘unauthorized housing
and informal settlements [slums] across Syria’. Under Law No. 10, once the areas is ‘designated’ under

128 World Bank, The Mobility of Displaced Syrians: An Economic and Social Analysis, 2020, url, p. 109. See also the related

report: World Bank, The Toll of War, 10 July 2017, url, pp. 18-28
129 Denmark, DIS, Syria – The Socio-Economic Situation in Damascus City, March 2019, url, p. 8
130 Adbin, Y., The fragility of community security in Damascus and its environs, International Review of the Red Cross Volume
99, Issue 906, April 2019, url, p. 900
131 World Bank, The Mobility of Displaced Syrians: An Economic and Social Analysis, 2020, url, p. 114 and graphic on p. 115
132 ‘Deprivations surveyed included lack of insulation from the cold, leaking during rain, limited ventilation, overcrowding,lack of internal privacy, unable to secure house, lack of cooking facilities, lack of bathing facilities, lack of lighting, lack ofheating and whether there is any other common inadequacy. The Index is the average number of deprivations (out of 10) in
each governorate.’ World Bank, The Mobility of Displaced Syrians: An Economic and Social Analysis, 2020, url, p. 110
133 World Bank, The Mobility of Displaced Syrians: An Economic and Social Analysis, 2020, url, p. 110
134 Denmark, DIS, Syria – The Socio-Economic Situation in Damascus City, March 2019, url, p. 8
135 Austria, BFA Staatendokumentation [Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum – COI Unit], Country Report on Syria[Updated October 2019], p. 84, Available from BFA Staatendokumentation; SLJ, SLJ Twitter Short message from 29 January
2019, url, accessed 22 January 2019136 Austria, BFA Staatendokumentation [Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum – COI Unit], Country Report on Syria[Updated October 2019], pp. 83-84, Available from BFA Staatendokumentation.

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the law, tenants and property owners have to present ownership documents. Owners are then issued
shares in line with the current estimated property value; there is little recourse to challenge estimates
which are ‘likely much lower than market value’.137 The law gives property owners and relatives amonth to appear with paperwork to reclaim their property, many of which had been left behind due
to displacement; the law states that if property was not claimed by the deadline, it could be
redeveloped, causing many displaced Syrian refugees and aid groups to state that the timelines could
not be met, leading to loss of their property as a result.138 The Austrian COI unit’s country report on
Syria stated that according to a confidential source, the law allows the expropriation of property
belonging to refugees, because according to the aforementioned law, property, apartments andhouses fall to the Syrian state if their owners cannot submit deeds of ownership to the corresponding
newly installed authority.139 In November 2018, the government extended the deadline to a year140
and added amendments permitting appeal.141
According to SACD’s 2019 report on the situation of returnees to government-held areas, thegovernment’s ‘urban development ‘laws’’ in destroyed areas are discriminatory and returnees are‘systematically denied the right to their property in an openly retaliatory manner’.142 The Director of
the Carnegie Middle East Centre wrote an article on this topic indicating that, in her analysis, Law No.
10 allows for additional vetting of returnees and puts refugees ‘at risk of dispossession’. She notedthat showing proof of property ownership to the government when a person is wanted for opposition
activities would likely lead to imprisonment. Presenting proof of ownership ‘will likely be impossible’
for others such as those who fled their home region under duress without legal papers or deeds.143

3.4 Utilities, hygiene and sanitation
Sources reported in 2019 that electricity144 and cooking gas were being rationed in Damascus.145 In
April-May 2019, the country experienced a fuel crisis which also hit Damascus, that was blamed bystate-affiliated media on international sanctions.146 In a news report from December 2019 it wasreported that under the smart card rationing system for gas introduced by the government, eachfamily was eligible to receive one gas cylinder every 20 days, though the article noted discrepancies
in prices and access whereby wealthy areas where government officials reside had stock and higher
prices but other neighbourhoods experienced shortages and line ups. Costs of winter clothing,transportation, and food also reportedly increased due to the drop in the value of the Syrian Pound,according to a Syria Direct article from December 2019.147 Another article by Syria Direct noted thatin areas of Damascus retaken under government control, IDPs who returned were required to pay for
their water and electricity bills for periods when they had fled their homes, even though these were
137 CMEC, The Politics of Dispossession, 9 May 2018, url
138 SACD, Vengeance, Repression and Fear: Reality Behind Assad’s Promises to Displaced Syrians, October 2019, url, pp. 20-21
139 Austria, BFA Staatendokumentation [Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum – COI Unit], Country Report on Syria[Updated October 2019], p. 75, Available from BFA Staatendokumentation.
140 SACD, Vengeance, Repression and Fear: Reality Behind Assad’s Promises to Displaced Syrians, October 2019, url, pp. 2021; CMEC, The Politics of Dispossession, 9 May 2018, url
141 SACD, Vengeance, Repression and Fear: Reality Behind Assad’s Promises to Displaced Syrians, October 2019, url, pp. 2021
142 SACD, Vengeance, Repression and Fear: Reality Behind Assad’s Promises to Displaced Syrians, October 2019, url, p. 4
143 CMEC, The Politics of Dispossession, 9 May 2018, url
144 Irish Times (The), Truffles and traffic jams: Damascus grinds on after eight years of war, 11 April 2019, url; Syria Direct,
Syrian government forces returning displaced persons to pay for services they never received, 16 September 2019, url; Syria
Direct, Residents of Damascus suffer under rising prices and economic slowdown, 8 December 2019, url
145 Irish Times (The), Truffles and traffic jams: Damascus grinds on after eight years of war, 11 April 2019, url
146 Syria Direct, “No end in sight” A day in the life of a journalist during the Damascus fuel crisis, 9 May 2019, url; Syria Direct,‘From one crisis to another’: Gas queues and frustration as Damascus residents grapple with fuel shortages, 25 April 2019,url
147 Syria Direct, Residents of Damascus suffer under rising prices and economic slowdown, 8 December 2019, url

28 —EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT - SYRIA: SOCIOECONOMIC SITUATION – DAMASCUS CITY

even cut off during the Syrian government’s siege of the area; they also had to pay fees to restore
access to water and electricity after returning.148 Returnees to recaptured parts of Rural Damascus,
Dar’a, Homs, and Aleppo were also asked to pay fees for water, electricity, phone, municipal and realestate taxes during for a period during which they already had fled, as SACD reported in 2019.149
According to the SCPR, in general terms, ‘the Syrian population had difficulty in access to improved
drinking water since the beginning of the conflict, in addition to rising costs for water’.150 The DIS
report from March 2019 about the socio-economic situation in Damascus City stated that there is awater supply network all over the Governorate of Damascus and that 80 to 90 % of the city is fully
served with drinking water and sanitation; however in the slum areas of Damascus such as Yarmouk,
Jobar, Barzeh, Al-Balad, Qaboun, Hajar Al-Aswad and al-Qadam, water supply infrastructure has beendamaged from past military operations, in these areas trucks tend to provide water rather than piping.
The report also noted that despite higher water reserves from rainfall, residents in Damascus City haveexperienced water shortages during the day, and that ‘residents living in the outer areas of Damascus
City experience more frequent water outages than residents living in more central and upscaleneighbourhoods. When there is no water in the pipes, residents use water reservoirs on the roof or in
their houses’.151

3.5 Health care
Attacks on healthcare
WHO reported that there were 83 attacks on health care in the period between 1 January and 30
November 2019; all of the attacks took place in the northern part of the country.152 According tosources cited in a DIS/DRC report, the general security situation in government-controlled areas,
including in major cities like the capital ‘improved significantly since May 2018’ marked by decreases
in military confrontations, and fewer security incidents such as shelling and direct fire.153 Information
on attacks on health care facilities in Damascus city itself were not found among sources consulted
for this report.

Public healthcare facilities and capacity in Damascus
UNOCHA’s humanitarian needs survey found that in Damascus governorate, there were 1 177 907‘people in need’ of health-related humanitarian support. In Damascus, health and protection were thetwo sectors with the greatest number of people in need of humanitarian support across 10 sectors in
the governorate.154 The WHO’s 2018 annual report on public hospitals in Syria provides a map of the
distribution and functionality of public hospitals in Syria.155

148 Syria Direct, Syrian government forces returning displaced persons to pay for services they never received, 16 September

2019, url
149 SACD, Vengeance, Repression and Fear: Reality Behind Assad’s Promises to Displaced Syrians, October 2019, url, p. 18
150 SCPR, Food Security and Conflict in Syria, June 2019, url, p. 54
151 Denmark, DIS, Syria – The Socio-Economic Situation in Damascus City, March 2019, url, p. 8; see also: Syrian Observer(The), Rise in Real Estate Prices in Cities in Syria, 6 March 2018, url; Syrian Observer (The), Major Increase in House Rental
Prices in Damascus Slums, 4 May 2018, url
152 UNOCHA, WoS, Syrian Arab Republic, Attacks on health care in Syria, 1 January – 30 November 2019, url. Attack on healthcare is defined as any act of verbal or physical violence, threat of violence or other psychological violence, or obstructionthat interferes with the availability, access and delivery of curative and/or preventive health services. For further information
please visit webpage https://www.who.int/emergencies/attacks-on-health-care/en/
153 Denmark, DIS/DRC, Syria – Security Situation in Damascus Province and Issues Regarding Return to Syria, February 2019,url, p. 9
154 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview 2019 – Syrian Arab Republic, March 2019, url, p. 32
155 WHO, HeRAMS Annual Report, January – December 2018, Public Hospitals in the Syrian Arab Republic, 2018, url, p. 5

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There are 15 public hospitals in Damascus, eight of which are affiliated with the Ministry of Health(MoH), and 7 with the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE).156 WHO reported 14 Damascus hospitals
functional and 1 hospital partially functional, as of the end of December 2018.157 12 public hospitals
were defined as accessible (easy to access for patients and health staff) and 2 as hard-to-access (hardto reach, due to security situation or long distance). One of the hospitals in Damascus was partiallydamaged.158 Electricity generators were reported as being available in the hospitals 24 hours/day asof 2018. Still, the number and/or efficiency of electricity generators was insufficient in 27 % ofDamascus hospitals.159 One hospital reported limited water sources.160
Some Damascus hospitals have extended their operational capacity: while the original total inpatient
capacity equals to 2 850 beds, the available number of beds is reported as 3 311 (116 %) as ofDecember 2018; the highest of all governorates.161 The estimated caseload of functional public
hospitals of Damascus (outpatient consultations and emergency cases) from January to December
2018 was over 1.5 million cases162; the hospitals provided treatment to over 67 000 outpatients andapproximately 13 700 inpatients in public hospitals. Damascus had the highest number of treatedpatients, followed by Aleppo (44 397), Lattakia (44 397) and Homs (33 195).163
Damascus had the highest proportion and availability of doctors in functional public hospitals, morethan any other governorate: 2 182 male doctors and 1 263 female doctors, compared with the lowest
proportions found in Raqqa (45 male and 9 female), Hasaka, Quneitra, and Deir Ez-Zor.164 As of
December 2018, the human resources of the public hospitals in Damascus included: no generalpractitioners, 44 orthopaedic surgeons, 61 general surgeons, 18 neurological surgeons, 835 otherspecialists, 17 emergency physicians, 2 434 resident doctors, 36 dentists, 3 667 nurses, 402 laboratory
staff, 151 midwives, 81 pharmacists, 546 university staff, 1 214 technicians, and 3 030 other staff.
WHO reported that 52 out of the 61 public health centres (PHC) in Damascus were reported fully
functional, 1 partially functional, and 8 non-functional as of the end of 2018.165 In terms of accessibility
to patients and staff in Damascus, 54 PHCs were reported accessible, 1 hard-to-reach, and 6
inaccessible.166 Another 2 centres were reported damaged; for 5 there was no report.167 Among
functional PHCs (53), 45 centres were equipped with electricity generators and 40 centres had
refrigerators for storing vaccines.168 Nurses (354) were main staff in functioning Damascus PHCs, but
human resources also included: 36 practitioners, 205 specialist doctors, 72 resident doctors, 97
dentists, 92 laboratory staff, 78 midwives, 7 pharmacists, and other technicians/staff.169 The

156 WHO, HeRAMS Annual Report, January – December 2018, Public Hospitals in the Syrian Arab Republic, 2018, url, p. 3
157 WHO, HeRAMS Annual Report, January – December 2018, Public Hospitals in the Syrian Arab Republic, 2018, url, p. 5
158 WHO, HeRAMS Annual Report, January – December 2018, Public Hospitals in the Syrian Arab Republic, 2018, url, pp. 8,

12159 WHO, HeRAMS Annual Report, January – December 2018, Public Hospitals in the Syrian Arab Republic, 2018, url, p. 17
160 WHO, HeRAMS Annual Report, January – December 2018, Public Hospitals in the Syrian Arab Republic, 2018, url, p. 16
161 Based on Figure 12: WHO, HeRAMS Annual Report, January – December 2018, Public Hospitals in the Syrian Arab Republic,

2018, url, p. 14
162 Based on Figure 29: WHO, HeRAMS Annual Report, January – December 2018, Public Hospitals in the Syrian Arab Republic,
2018, url, p. 27
163 WHO, HeRAMS Annual Report, January – December 2018, Public Hospitals in the Syrian Arab Republic, 2018, url, p. 29
164 WHO, HeRAMS Annual Report, January – December 2018, Public Hospitals in the Syrian Arab Republic, 2018, url, pp. 1920, 25
165 WHO, HeRAMS Annual Report, Public Health Centres in the Syrian Arab Republic, January – December 2018, url, p. 5
166 Accessible was explained in the report as ‘easily accessible’ for patients and staff; hard-to-reach was due to security
situation or long distance; inaccessible was not accessible due to security situation, or a centre is only accessible to a small
fraction of people, or not open to civilians. WHO, HeRAMS Annual Report, Public Health Centres in the Syrian Arab Republic,
January – December 2018, url, p. 9
167 WHO, HeRAMS Annual Report, Public Health Centres in the Syrian Arab Republic, January – December 2018, url, p. 12
168 WHO, HeRAMS Annual Report, Public Health Centres in the Syrian Arab Republic, January – December 2018, url, p. 16
169 WHO, HeRAMS Annual Report, Public Health Centres in the Syrian Arab Republic, January – December 2018, url, p. 18

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estimated workload (2018) was more than 1.2 million consultations, compared to the higher numbersof 1.6 million in Rural Damascus, 1.4 million in Hama, 1.39 in Homs, and 1.33 in Aleppo.170

Availability and access to treatment
Article 22 of the 2012 Constitution of the Syrian Arab Republic states that:‘1. The state shall guarantee every citizen and his family in cases of emergency, sickness,disability, orphan-hood and old age;
2. The state shall protect the health of citizens and provide them with the means ofprevention, treatment and medication’.171
According to the sources interviewed by DIS, every Syrian national can access public primary services
and hospitals in Damascus free of charge or at a very low charge that is affordable for low-income
groups; emergency care is also provided free of charge.172
The nearest health care facility (either public or private) can be accessed in Damascus within an
average five minutes of travel time, generally by car.173 However, the health care facilities in the capitalare reported to be overcrowded, particularly due to a high number of patients, including children,
who come to Damascus for medical treatment from other provinces.174 Non-Damascene patients
constitute the large majority. According to an international organisation interviewed by Austria’s COI
unit, ‘9 out of 10 patients in Damascus come from other provinces to receive health care. Due to thehigh demand, the health care system is overstreched. For example, relatives must help in caring forchildren in emergency care units because medical staff do not have sufficient resources and hospitals
are overcrowded. The employee of an international organisation in Damascus reports that fivechildren have to share a single bed in emergency childcare’.175
The WHO stated in its 2018 report on PHCs in Syria that ‘constant deterioration of functionality statusof public health centres was observed throughout 2018’ in the country.176 The conflict anddisplacement put immense pressure on the Syrian health system resulting in shortages of medical
specialists, medicines, and supplies.177 Access to specialised care and medical supplies declined
because of disrupted transport routes, the flight of health sector personnel and access restrictions forhumanitarian aid’.178 A range of medical services are offered by PHCs in Syria: general clinical services
and essential trauma care, child health clinic, nutrition management, communicabale diseasediagnosis and treatment, sexually-transmitted diseases, maternal and newborn health, and mental
healthcare; though a graphic on availability at all functional PHCs indicated that not all services wereavailable, for instance with essential newborn care being in 15 % of PHCs, TB treatment in 32 %,psychosocial support in 34 %, and antenatal care in 81 %, though no governorate breakdown wasgiven.179

170 WHO, HeRAMS Annual Report, Public Health Centres in the Syrian Arab Republic, January – December 2018, url, p. 24
171 Syria, Constitution of the Syrian Arab Republic – 2012, ILO, url
172 Denmark, DIS, Syria – The Socio-Economic Situation in Damascus City, March 2019, url, p. 7
173 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview 2019 – Syrian Arab Republic, March 2019, url, p. 69
174 Austria, BFA Staatendokumentation [Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum – COI Unit], Country Report on Syria, May

2019 - Updated October 2019, p. 80, Available from BFA Staatendokumentation; Syria Untold, Queuing at the children’s
hospital, url, 16 December 2019
175 Austria, BFA Staatendokumentation [Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum – COI Unit], Country Report on Syria, May
2019 - Updated October 2019, p. 80, Available from BFA Staatendokumentation.
176 WHO, HeRAMS Annual Report, Public Health Centres in the Syrian Arab Republic, January – December 2018, url, p. 51
177 WHO, Annual Report 2018, World Health Organization, Syrian Arab Republic, 2018, url, p. 8
178 SIM, Protecting Healthcare in Syria, August 2018, url, p. 8179 Based on Figure 27: WHO, HeRAMS Annual Report, Public Health Centres in the Syrian Arab Republic, January – December
2018, url, p. 23

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According to WHO, patients with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) receive the medical treatment
at primary and secondary care levels, unless complications are developed.180 Cancer is treated atsecondary and tertiary levels only.181 Besides the insufficiency of specialised medical care, e.g. cancer
treatment, dialysis, and treatment of thalassemia cases, the Syrian health sector lacks capacity toprovide emergency and comprehensive health services for the treatment of trauma and burns as wellas to perform surgeries and provide postoperative rehabilitation treatment across the country.182
The quality of medical treatment in Damascus is affected by long waiting lists and the lack of welltrained doctors, as reported by the Humanitarian Access Team (HAT) of Mercy Corps, interviewed by
DIS. WHO in Damascus and a humanitarian organisation in Syria, which were also interviewed by DIS,
reported on shortages of equipment, medicines, and surgeries in tertiary health care and thetreatment of cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Both sources reported on waiting lists to receive
treatment at public hospitals and high prices at private hospitals.183 Thus, WHO in Damascus reported
that advanced surgery at a private hospital can cost up to 6 000 USD.184 As reported by HAT, the costof a full medical check-up at a private hospital is at least 120 USD and can be afforded by only 10 - 15 %of the inhabitants of Damascus.185 A 2017 academic article mentioned that a tomography scan, which
was available only in Damascus, requires self-payment.186
In Syria, Damascus hospitals have the largest availability of services to treat NCDs, such as diabetes
and diabetic complications, hypertension, cardiovascular, kidney, and cancer diseases. The city has
two cardiovascular specialised hospitals.187
The local media reports on the difficulties in getting appointments to see neurologists, particularly totreat children. One of the parents has reported paying 10 000 Syrian pounds (about 20 USD) for theexamination at the Ibn al-Nafees Governmental Hospital, which specialises in the treatment ofchildren with motor disabilities, and about 60 000 Syrian pounds (about 100 USD) for the medicines.188
Sources report that there is a shortage of mental healthcare services in Syria, including psychiatrists.189
However, WHO in Damascus told DIS that there are more psychiatrists in Damascus than in other partsof Syria; and treatment is provided free of charge in public clinics or through a number of NGOs thatprovide psycho-social support.190 Displaced people were reported especially prone to being affectedby mental health problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder.191

Availability of medication
The availability of pharmaceutical products as well as supplies of raw material and spare parts for
medical equipment in the hospitals of Damascus has been negatively affected by the destruction of
local pharmaceutical factories and sanctions imposed by the US and the EU.192 Pharmaceuticalcompanies are forced to use third countries—Lebanon, the UAE, Iran, Russia, and China—‘to get

180 WHO, HeRAMS Annual Report, January – December 2018, Public Hospitals in the Syrian Arab Republic, 2018, url, p. 43
181 WHO, HeRAMS Annual Report, January – December 2018, Public Hospitals in the Syrian Arab Republic, 2018, url, p. 43
182 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview 2019 – Syrian Arab Republic, March 2019, url, p. 70
183 Denmark, DIS, Syria – The Socio-Economic Situation in Damascus City, March 2019, url, p. 7
184 Denmark, DIS, Syria – The Socio-Economic Situation in Damascus City, March 2019, url, p. 12
185 Denmark, DIS, Syria – The Socio-Economic Situation in Damascus City, March 2019, url, p. 15
186 Sahloul, E. et.al, Cancer Care at Times of Crisis and War: The Syrian Example, JGO (Journal of Global Oncology), 3(4): 338-

345, August 2017, url
187 WHO, HeRAMS Annual Report, January – December 2018, Public Hospitals in the Syrian Arab Republic, 2018, url, p. 43
188 Syria Untold, Queuing at the children’s hospital, url, 16 December 2019
189 Syria Deeply, In Syria’s War, ‘Mental Health Is the Last Priority’, 31 August 2017, url; Denmark, DIS, Syria: The SocioEconomic Situation in Damascus City, March 2019, url, p. 7
190 Denmark, DIS, Syria – The Socio-Economic Situation in Damascus City, March 2019, url, p. 7
191Karasapan, O, Syria’s mental health crisis, Brookings, 25 April 2016, url; Weissbecker, I, Leichner, A., Addressing Mental
Health Needs among Syrian Refugees, Middle East Institute, 22 September 2015, url
192 Reuters, Syria sanctions indirectly hit children’s cancer treatment, 15 March 2017, url; Irish Times (the), Truffles and Traffic
Jams: Damascus Grinds on After Eight Years of War, 11 April 2019, url

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around sanctions’.193 The shortage in supplies and long delivery times and difficulties with updating
medical computer software were reported, for instance, in Mujtahed public hospital in Damascus, oneof the largest healthcare facilities in the city.194 Damascus’ Children Hospital, which provides cancer
treatment to children, was also reported to encounter shortages in medicines and supplies.195
In the annual report for 2018, WHO noted that ‘although public healthcare facilities were supposed
to provide medicines free of charge, many patients [in Syria] were forced to buy them in private
pharmacies because they were not available otherwise’.196 According to WHO in Damascus, medicines
which are ‘prescribed by primary healthcare physicians is available to a great extent in pharmacies’and the price is ‘not high’. Medicines to treat chronic diseases are ‘provided free of charge by publichealthcare clinics and hospitals’.197 An international humanitarian organisation in Damascus has
similarly reported that medicine to treat primary health care patients is not expensive. Syrian ArabRed Crescent (SARC) clinics in Damascus provide medicine to treat primary care patients free ofcharge. However, the source has mentioned reports on IDPs in Damascus, ‘who have not been able toafford basic medicines for primary care’.198

3.6 Education for children
General overview
Article 29 of the the Constitution of the Syrian Arab Republic stipulates that education is ‘a rightguaranteed by the state, and it is free at all levels’ and that it ‘shall be compulsory until the end ofbasic education state’.199
According to the data of the UNESCO Institute of Statistics (2004), the literacy rate of adults in Syria(15 years and older) was estimated at around 81 % (88 % for men and 74 % for women) while theliteracy rate of the youth (15 – 24 years) was around 92 % (95 % for men and 90 % for women).200
Education is mandatory up to the 9th grade (between the ages of 6 and 15), which comprises 6 years
of primary school and 3 years of lower level secondary school. After receiving the Basic Education
Certificate, students can pursure secondary education at the upper level or enter vocational
schools.201
The conflict caused a decline in access to education.202 UNOCHA reported on the increase in thenumber of children engaged in child labour and child marriage, due to dropping out of school.203
Expected years of schooling dropped from 11.8 in 2010 to 8.9 in 2017 and 2018; the number of mean
years of schooling decreased from 6.3 in 2010 to 5.1 in 2015 – 2018.204 The Bertelsmann Stiftung Index(BTI) 2018 Country Report pointed out that ‘a difficulty for Syria in the future will be the “lostgeneration” – millions of Syrian children are currently hardly or not at all able to go to school, both

193 International Crisis Group, Ways out of Europe’s Syria Reconstruction Conundrum, Middle East Report № 209, 25

November 2019, url, p. 5. The description was given by a Damascene pharmacist.
194 Los Angeles Times, For many Syrians, ‘smart’ sanctions are anything but, 24 December 2018, url
195 Reuters, Syria sanctions indirectly hit children’s cancer treatment, 15 March 2017, url
196 WHO, Annual Report 2018, World Health Organization – Syrian Arab Republic, 2018, url, p. 8
197 Denmark, DIS, Syria – The Socio-Economic Situation in Damascus City, March 2019, url, p. 7, 12
198 Denmark, DIS, Syria – The Socio-Economic Situation in Damascus City, March 2019, url, p. 7, 17
199 Syria, Constitution of the Syrian Arab Republic – 2012, ILO, url
200 UNESCO Institute of Statistics, Syrian Arab Republic, url
201Nuffic, Education System, Syria, Described and compared with the Dutch system, updated 2 September 2019, url, p. 7
Nuffic is the Dutch organisation for internalisation in education, for the details see url
202 UN Human Rights Council, Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, Report of the Independent
International Commission of Inquiry of the Syrian Arab Republic, A/HRC/31/68, url, p. 11
203 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview 2019 – Syrian Arab Republic, March 2019, url, p. 13, 26
204 UNDP, Human Development Report 2019: Inequalities in Human Development in the 21 st Century, Briefing note forcountries on the 2019 Human Development Report, Syrian Arab Republic, url, p. 3

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inside and outside Syria’.205 UNOCHA provided the following breakdown of education-related
humanitarian needs in March 2019 across Syria, including in Damascus, noting that 2.5 million children
are out of school across Syria206:

Figure 5: UNOCHA, People in need in the education sector 207

Attacks on schools in Damascus (2013 – 2016)
Information and reporting on attacks on schools in Damascus since 2016 could not be found among
the sources consulted for this report, however there have been examples in past years in the conflict.
The Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack lists a number of documented attacks onschools, schoolchildren, teachers, and personnel in Damascus, which took place from 2013 to 2016.208
In February 2013, a car bomb exploded near Ibn-Atheer School in Mazraa district, close to the Russian
embassy, killing 50 people, including children.209 In November 2013, mortar rounds hit schools in the
districts of Al-Dweila, Bab Sharqi, and Al-Qassa, killing children and school personnel.210 In April 2014,mortar shells hit the Badr el-Din Hussaini educational complex in the Al-Shaghour neighbourhood ofDamascus, reportedly killing 17 children211; in May 2015, a mortar shell killed one female teacher andinjured more than twenty students at Al-Thaqafi primary school in the capital’s Al-Malekineighbourhood.212 In September 2016, ‘it was reported that the UNRWA Al-Jarmaq School in Yarmouk

205 Bertelsmann Stiftung, BTI 2018 Country Report, Syria, 2018, url, p. 41
206 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview 2019 – Syrian Arab Republic, March 2019, url, p. 63
207 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview 2019 – Syrian Arab Republic, March 2019, url, p. 63
208 Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, Education under Attack 2018 – Syria, 11 May 2018, url
209 Telegraph (The), Syria: Bomb kills 50 as children leave school in Damascus, 21 February 2013, url
210 UN Security Council, Report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic,

S/2014/31, January 27, 2014, url, p. 11
211 HRW, World Report 2015: Syria, Events of 2014, url
212 AP, Shell kills teacher, wounds 23 students in Damascus school, 20 May 2015, url

34 —EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT - SYRIA: SOCIOECONOMIC SITUATION – DAMASCUS CITY

had been seized by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and that the premises were being used
to deliver education by armed actors’.213

Schools and school enrolment in Damascus
According to the Syrian Central Bureau of Statistics, reporting in 2016, there were 518 schools in
Damascus: 399 of them being public, 96 private schools and 23 schools run by UNRWA.214 There were
212 295 (103 915 girls and 108 380 boys) students receiving the 1st cycle (1 – 4 grades) education in
2016—the last year for which the statistics were made public. There were 181 680 students (92 703
boys and 88 977 girls) attending public schools, 23 842 (12 186 boys and 11 656 girls) studying inprivate schools, and 6 773 (3 491 boys and 3 282 girls) registered as students in UNRWA-run
schools.215 In addition, 613 students (511 women and 102 men) were enrolled in 37 anti-illiteracy
classes in Damascus in 2016.216
With almost 95 % of school-age population enrolled in schools, Damascus has the highest enrolment
rate among the Syrian governorates, according to 2018 estimates of the World Bank.217 Differently
from other governorates, Damascus displays the largest difference in enrolment by gender: a 6percentage point difference, in favour of girls, according to the data of Humanitarian Needs
Assessment Programme (HNAP) for 2018.218
UNOCHA estimates the number of school-age children (5 – 17 years) in need in Damascus at 474 270(221 181 boys and 253 089 girls); the number of teachers in need is 9 881 (4 608 male and 5 273
female teachers).219 Due to the economic situation and low salaries, teachers in Damascus often havea second job or have to leave the profession altogether.220 According to a 2018 study conductedamong students in Damascus capital area and Latakia, ‘Syrian children are experiencing traumatic
events and war-associated daily stresses that are hugely impacting psychological well-being’.221

Access to schooling
The Government of Syria is the main provider of education in most areas of Syria, with the support ofinternational NGOs and UN agencies in some areas. It has the responsibility for education services in
the following governorates: Quneitra, Dar’a, Suweida, Damascus, Rural Damascus, Homs, Hama,
Tartous, Latakia, parts of Aleppo, parts of Deir Ez-Zor, and parts of Hasaka. In some areas of thenortheast of Syria, the ‘self-administration’ provides most education, such as in Raqqa and parts ofDeir-ez Zor, Aleppo, and Hasaka.222 Schools providing primary and secondary education, including
UNWRA and private schools are under the supervision of the Syrian Ministry of Education. Public

213 UNSC, Implementation of Security Council resolutions, 2139 (2014), 2165 (2014), 2191 (2014) and 2258 (2015), Report of

the Secretary General, S/2016/873, url, p. 4. The UN Security Council report specifies that ‘UNRWA has not been in a position
to operate any of its 29 schools, including the Al-Jarmaq School in Yarmuk, since December 2012’ and was not able to confirm
or deny the reports about the Al-Jarmaq School.
214 Syria, Central Bureau of Statistics, Yearbook 2017, Number of Basic Education Schools (1 st & 2nd Cycle) by Ownership ofSchool & Sex of Pupils & Distribution of Schools by Governorates in 2016, url
215 Syria, Central Bureau of Statistics, Yearbook 2017, Number of Pupils of Basic Education (1 st Cycle) by School Ownership &Sex 2012-2016 & Distribution of Schools by Governorates in 2016, url. For the statistics for the 2nd cycle, see url
216 Syria, Central Bureau of Statistics, Yearbook 2017, Anti-Illiteracy Classes, Enrolled & their Graduates by Sex 2012 – 2016
& Their Distribution by Governorates in 2016, url
217 Word Bank, The Mobility of Displaced Syrians: An Economic and Social Analysis, 2020, url, p. 132. The estimates rely on
UNICEF estimates for 2016/2017.
218 Word Bank, The Mobility of Displaced Syrians: An Economic and Social Analysis, 2020, url, p. 131
219 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview 2019 – Syrian Arab Republic, March 2019, url, p. 63
220 Syria Untold, Teachers, students live with burden of war and dire economic conditions in Damascus, 5 December 2019,url
221 Perkins, J. D. et. al, Mental health in Syrian children with a focus on post-traumatic stress: a cross-sectional study from
Syrian schools, Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 53, 1231-1239(2018), 6 August 2018, url
222
Steele, J., UNESCO, Internally Displaced People and Education in Syria, 2019, url, pp. 12-13

EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT - SYRIA – SOCIO-ECONOMIC SITUATION – DAMASCUS CITY — 35

primary and secondary education is free.223 A humanitarian organisation interviewed by DIS reported
that ‘no child is denied access based on his or her area of origin or ethnic background’. Public schools
are free and the Syrian government encourages parents to enrol their children in schools via media
campaigns.224
According to a 2016 paper on the Syrian education system in the midst of the conflict, published by
the Vienna Institute of Demography, in government-controlled areas of Syria, the provision of
education is ‘more stable’ than in the areas held by the opposition.225 However the ‘relative stability’
attracts more students, which results in overcrowded classrooms, particularly in basic education. To
accommodate the students, the majority of schools that provide basic education have started
implementing double shifts.226 This point was also made by a humanitarian organisation interviewed
by DIS on the situation in Damascus in 2019: ‘Damascus schools are overcrowded and many of them
operate in two shifts ‘in order to cope with the lack of capacity and the growing demand’.227
Private schools ‘are regulated under the same educational law as public schools’.228 In the worsening
economic situation, public schools started to be preferred ‘to secure other basic life needs’.229
According to sources published in local media, the cost of schooling in private schools starts at
350 000 SYP [about 1 600 EUR] for one semester and may reach or even exceed 500 000 SYP [about
2 300 EUR], which makes private school unaffordable for most Damascus inhabitants.230

IDPs and returnees
According to the Humanitarian Access Team (HAT), which was interviewed by DIS, children who returnto the city after a period of absence are allowed to enrol in schools and are placed at the level that
corresponds to their skills after certifying their latest school attendance or taking a placement test.231
A humanitarian organisation, similarly interviewed by DIS, mentioned that a high number of childrenof IDPs study in schools in areas surrounding Damascus, which causes overcrowding of the schools.232
The media source Syria Untold reported that children from displaced families encountereddiscrimination from peers and teachers due to ‘class disparities’ emerging ‘between host anddisplaced communities’.233

UNRWA
In the 2018/2019 school year, ‘UNRWA provided basic education from grades 1 – 9 to approximately
48 800 Palestine refugee students in 103 UNRWA schools located in Damascus, Rif Damascus, Aleppo,
Hama, Latakia, and Der’a’. The 20 UNRWA-run schools in Ein el-Tal, Yarmouk and Dar’a require major
construction, maintenance and rehabilitation works.234 A number of UNRWA schools operate on a

223 Nuffic, Education System, Syria, Described and compared with the Dutch system, updated 2 September 2019, url, p.7.

Nuffic is the Dutch organisation for internalisation in education, for the details see url
224 Denmark, DIS, Syria – The Socio-Economic Situation in Damascus City, March 2019, url, p. 19
225 Hessan (al), M. et. al, Understanding the Syrian Educational System in a Context of Crisis?, Working papers, Vienna
Institute of Demography, September 2016, url, p. 28
226 Hessan (al), M. et. al, Understanding the Syrian Educational System in a Context of Crisis?, Working papers, Vienna
Institute of Demography, September 2016, url, p. 28
227 Denmark, DIS, Syria – The Socio-Economic Situation in Damascus City, March 2019, url, p. 19
228 Denmark, DIS, Syria – The Socio-Economic Situation in Damascus City, March 2019, url, p. 15
229 Zaman al-Wasl, Syria’s private schools reveal increase in class gap, 1 October 2017 url
230 Syrian Observer (The), Syria’s Private Schools: a Way to Get Rich Quick, 23 September 2016, url; see also Zaman al-Wasl,
Syria’s private schools reveal increase in class gap, 1 October 2017, url
231 Denmark, DIS, Syria – The Socio-Economic Situation in Damascus City, March 2019, url, p. 15
232 Denmark, DIS, Syria – The Socio-Economic Situation in Damascus City, March 2019, url, p. 19
233 Syria Untold, Teachers, students live with burden of war and dire economic conditions in Damascus, 5 December 2019,url
234 UNRWA, Education in Syria, 2019, url36 —EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT - SYRIA: SOCIOECONOMIC SITUATION – DAMASCUS CITY

double shift basis and the organisation aims to employ around 1 700 teachers, including teachers paid
on a daily basis, to fulfil the need for teachers.235

3.7 Means of basic subsistence and employment
The Syrian economy faces significant difficulties in providing Syrians with job opportunities.236 The
World Bank estimates that in the government-controlled regions approximately 2.4 million net jobs
were lost from 2010 to 2015. Construction and industry are the sectors that suffered the greatest loss,
followed by agriculture.237 Since the outbreak of the war, the SYP has experienced massive
depreciation, which negatively affected national consumption.238 In circumstances of the war
economy, many Syrians have entered the informal employment sector239 and the figures for childlabour have significantly increased.240
According to the multidimensional poverty index published by the UN Development Programme(UNDP), Damascus is one of the least deprived Syrian governorates, similarly to Suweida, Tartous, andLatakia.241 Some economic activities in the capital were re-established since the stabilisation of the
security situation.242 The World Bank stated in its 2020 report that poverty in Syria prevails
everywhere, noting that ‘Syrians have better access to livelihood opportunities in countries of asylum
than in Syria’.243

Unemployment
The World Bank reported that the conflict caused lower employment and high unemployment in ‘highconflict-intensity areas’ due to concerns for security over the economy.244 CIA World Factbook
estimated the unemployment rate in the country at 50 % as of 2017.245 FAO (Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations) and WFP (World Food Programme) carried out a crop and foodsecurity assessment mission to Syria in summer 2019; in that report, for 2018-2019, unemployment
was identified as the ‘main challenge expressed by mVAM respondents’ in all 12 governorates; women
were particularly concerned about the lack of job opportunities and the need to enter the workforce
to support their families.246 According to the data of the World Bank, the unemployment rate in Syria
has increased from 22 % to 41 % for females and from 43 % to 84 % for female youth (15-24 years old)in the period from 2010 to 2017, compared to the increase from 6 % to 11 % for male and from 16 %to 27 % for male youth.247

235 UNRWA, 2019 Syria Regional Crisis, Emergency Appeal, 29 January 2019, url, p. 11
236 Bertelsmann Stiftung, BTI 2018 Country Report — Syria, 2018, url, p. 22; World Bank, The Toll of War: The Economic andSocial Consequences of the Conflict in Syria, 2017, url, p. 68
237 World Bank, The Mobility of Displaced Syrians: An Economic and Social Analysis, 2020, url, p. 85
238 Daher, J., Syria’s manufacturing sector: the model of economic recovery in question, European University Institute, 2019,url
239 Syrian Economic Sciences Society and UNDP (UN Development Programme), Employment and Livelihood Support in Syria,
July 2018, url, p. 54
240 Syrian Economic Sciences Society and UNDP, Employment and Livelihood Support in Syria, July 2018, url, p. 6
241 The multidimensional poverty index has tree dimensions: health (determined by infant mortality and nutrition indicators),
education (determined by years of school and school attendance of children), standard of living (determined by six indicators:
electricity, drinking water, sanitation, land, cooking fuel, assets). Syrian Economic Sciences Society; UNDP (UN Development
Programme), Employment and Livelihood Support in Syria, July 2018, url, p. 44
242 UNESCWA (UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia); University of St Andrews, Syria at War, Five Years on,
2016, url, p. 15
243 World Bank, The Mobility of Displaced Syrians: An Economic and Social Analysis, 2020, url, p. 11
244 World Bank, The Mobility of Displaced Syrians: An Economic and Social Analysis, 2020, url, p. 86
245 US, CIA (US Central Intelligence Agency), The World Factbook, updated 5 November 2019, url
246 The study was based on mVAM (Mobile Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping) survey and was conducted in 12 Syrian
governorates. FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations); WFP (World Food Programme), FAO/WFP
Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission to the Syrian Arab Republic, Special Report, 5 September 2019, url, p. 61
247 World Bank, The Mobility of Displaced Syrians: An Economic and Social Analysis, 2020, url, p. 86

EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT - SYRIA – SOCIO-ECONOMIC SITUATION – DAMASCUS CITY — 37

Employment
In 2018, the governorate of Damascus provided approximately 15 % of the total employment in Syria,
according to 2018 HNAP data248 Livelihoods in Damascus are predominately based ‘around businesstrading jobs, government office job, commercial activities, petty trading and remittances’.249
A humanitarian organisation in Syria, interviewed by DIS in March 2019, has mentioned that thecapacity of the labour market in Damascus is smaller than the demand for jobs, particularly due to ahigh number of IDPs. University graduates in Damascus are reported to be mostly able to find an
employment, even if not in their field of study. Moreover, some space for a new workforce has opened
because a large number of skilled labour has left the country during the conflict. According a to ahumanitarian organisation in Syria, unskilled workers can ‘find a job in the city and manage a minimum
standard of living’, particularly if they received some vocational training. The source however addedthat ‘it is still possible for unskilled people to find jobs such as porter in the market, taxi driver etc. The
source stated, however, that expenses are high in Damascus City and it is very difficult for low- andmiddle income groups to make ends meet’.250 In Damascus and other areas with a lower incidence of
conflict, the participation of women in the economy has increased.251 An increasing number of womenfind employment in traditionally male jobs.252 IDP women are also reported to take part in
employment increasingly due to the shortage of male workers caused by the conflict.253
For more information on the situation of women see the EASO COI Report: Syria - Situation of women(February 2020)
Holding a job does not guarantee a person’s ability to acquire a livelihood254, due to inflation and thecollapse of the SYP.255 The instability of the Syrian currency affects factories and enterprises— andparticularly, smaller businesses—which are reported to have been forced to stop production andpossibly lay off workers.256

Average salaries/wages
According to news website Asharq al-Awsat, the salaries of government employees were between
30 000 [52 EUR] and 40 000 SYP [about 69 EUR] as of mid-2019, while the average salary of employees
in the private sector did not exceed 65 000 [about 113 EUR].257 The data of the Central Bureau of
Statistics for 2018 reported that the highest civil servant salary in governmental institutions was
100 000 SYP [about 166 EUR] per month, while, according to a February 2019 article the estimate forthe average monthly household expenditure was about 325 000 SYP [592 EUR].258

248 World Bank, The Mobility of Displaced Syrians: An Economic and Social Analysis, 2019, url
249 WoS, Food Security Sector, Expanded version of the Food Security Sector, Humanitarian Needs Overview 2018, November

2017, url, p. 17. Humanitarian response in Syria is delivered through the coordinated Whole of Syria (WoS) approach, which
combines operations within Syria and cross border operations from Turkey and Iraq under UN Resolution 2449 (2018),
delivering assistance from humanitarian organisations, NGOs and UN agencies. UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview
2019 – Syrian Arab Republic, March 2019, url, p. 43; UNOCHA provides an overarching framework for humanitarian planningin collaboration with humanitarian actors. For information see UNOCHA, 2015 Syria Response Plan, December 2014, url, p.
2
250 Denmark, DIS, Syria –The Socio-Economic Situation in Damascus City, March 2019, url, pp. 8, 21
251 World Bank, The Mobility of Displaced Syrians: An Economic and Social Analysis, 2019, url, p. 86
252 World Bank, The Mobility of Displaced Syrians: An Economic and Social Analysis, 2019, url, p. 86; Denmark, DIS, Syria: The
Socio-Economic Situation in Damascus City, March 2019, url, pp. 8, 21; FT, Shortage of men sees more Syrian women enter
workforce, 25 January 2019, url
253 FT, Shortage of men sees more Syrian women enter workforce, 25 January 2019, url
254 Denmark, DIS, Syria – The Socio-Economic Situation in Damascus City, March 2019, url, pp. 8, 21
255 Asharq al-Awsat, Damascus: Poverty Rising Prompts Calls for Salary Increase, 31 July 2019, url; Xinhua News Agency,
Spotlight: Syria faces growing economic hardships with skyrocketing prices, currency devaluation, 30 November 2019, url
256 Syria Direct, Residents of Damascus suffer under rising prices and economic slowdown, 8 December 2019, url
257 Asharq al-Awsat, Damascus: Poverty Rising Prompts Calls for Salary Increase, 31 July 2019, url
258 Syrian Observer (The), Economic Hardships Push Syrian Families to the Edge, 26 February 2019, url38 —EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT - SYRIA: SOCIOECONOMIC SITUATION – DAMASCUS CITYIn April 2019, the Irish Times reported that civil servants earning 40-200 USD per month had difficulty
covering expenses.259 A presidential decree of 21 November 2019 ordered an increase of 20 000 SYP[about 34 EUR] per month for salaries and wages for civilian and military employees.260 This increasein salaries reportedly did not alleviate the costs of daily living, according to residents of Damascus
cited by Syria Direct. The same article reported the general increase in the costs of basic foodcommodities since October 2019.261

Poverty
National poverty prevalence rates have increased between 2010 to 2017, and more steeply after 2012.
Damascus city’s poverty rate is reflective of the national average: poverty was at about 23 % in 2010,
and increased to nearly 60 % in 2012, and about 90 % in 2016 and 2017 (93.7 % nationally), the latteryears also being similar to rates in all other governorates of Syria, with the highest rates being over
90 % in Idlib, Hasaka, Tartous and Raqqa.262 According to Abdin’s 2019 paper on community security
in Damascus, poverty rates in Damascus are higher in the suburban areas surrounding the central
districts; mainly in the eastern periphery coinciding with the main locations of informal settlements
and rural districts.263
There is still a presence of middle class and wealthy Damascenes in the city.264 According to a
December 2019 article, living costs and prices, including in Damascus city, reportedly increased dueto the decline in value of the Syrian pound, increasing the difficulty of meeting basic needs.265
Sources reported that secondary or multiple employment is often required to meet needs.266
Requesting support from charitable organisations267 or reliance on aid from relatives abroad wereother livelihood strategies.268 Rises in unemployment have been compounded by the decline inpurchasing power to one tenth of pre-crisis level (if compared to the income in 2010).269 According to
the March 2019 DIS report on Damascus City, the capacity of the labour market cannot absorb thedemand in Damascus due to the influx of IDPs.270 Similarly, Yassar Abdin wrote in 2019 that althoughcommodities are widely available from both local and imported sources across various district markets
in Damascus, the ‘vast majority’ of the population cannot afford the high prices.271

259 Irish Times (The), Truffles and traffic jams: Damascus grinds on after eight years of war, 11 April 2019, url
260 Enab Baladi, The unknown future of the Syrian pound between inflation and depreciation, 29 November 2019, url
261 Syria Direct, Residents of Damascus suffer under rising prices and economic slowdown, 8 December 2019, url
262 SCPR, Food Security and Conflict in Syria, June 2019, url, pp. 8, 50 (Summary of information in Fig 23).
263 Abdin, Y., The Fragility of Community Security in Damascus and its Environs, International Review of the Red Cross, (IRRC

No. 906), April 2019, url, p. 919 and graphic on p. 921
264 Irish Times (The), Truffles and traffic jams: Damascus grinds on after eight years of war, 11 April 2019, url
265 Syria Direct, Residents of Damascus suffer under rising prices and economic slowdown, 8 December 2019, url
266 Adbin, Y., The fragility of community security in Damascus and its environs, International Review of the Red Cross IRRC
No. 906), April 2019, url, p. 913; Irish Times (The), Truffles and traffic jams: Damascus grinds on after eight years of war, 11
April 2019, url
267 Adbin, Y., The fragility of community security in Damascus and its environs, International Review of the Red Cross Volume
99, Issue 906, url, p. 913
268 Irish Times (The), Truffles and traffic jams: Damascus grinds on after eight years of war, 11 April 2019, url
269 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview 2019 – Syrian Arab Republic, March 2019, url, p. 65
270 Denmark, DIS, Syria – The Socio-Economic Situation in Damascus City, March 2019, url, p. 8
271 Abdin, Y., The Fragility of Community Security in Damascus and its Environs, International Review of the Red Cross, (IRRC
No. 906), April 2019, url, p. 913

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4. Support to specific groups
4.1 Orphans
According to an article, published in Gulf News in 2016, there was an increase in homeless people inDamascus city as a result of people moving to the city mainly from Ghouta or the south due to theconflict since 2011.272 Syria’s minister for Social Affairs and Labour stated in the local news source AlWatan [reported in Xinhua News] in 2018 that there were 30 000 orphans registered in the capitaland surrounding areas; and claimed that there were ‘600 care centers for orphans in Damascus’ andits surroundings.273
Sources reported that orphanages struggle with the capacity to deal with the need.274 Unaccompanied
children in the orphanages frequently have no identification or have been separated from theirfamilies during the conflict.275 Frequently, it is police or extended family who drop children without
papers or families at the orphanages.276
SOS Children’s villages reportedly ran two centres for orphaned children in rural Damascus as ofsources in 2016, housing 250 children.277 In October 2017, SOS Children’s Villages opened a facility
16 km southwest of the city centre to house 80 children who have lost their parents.278

4.2 Trafficking victims and sexual/gender-based violence victims
According to a UNFPA report from 2019 about the situation of gender-based violence (GBV) in Syria,
in Damascus Governorate, sexual, physical, domestic violence and honour killings are types of GBV
that have been experienced by girls, widows, divorcees, and women in general in that governorate.279
EuroMedRights280 produced a 2017 factsheet on violence against women which stated that there arethree shelters/safe houses for GBV in Syria, all of which are located in Damascus. These shelters
receive people from all over Syria and women/girls are frequently referred by churches or juvenile
judges:‘The Good Shepherd shelter (Al-Rahi Al-Saleh) which is run and funded by the Good Shepherd
Sisters of Syria. It has a hotline, the only one operating in Syria (Trust Hotline)The Charity shelter which is run by the Sisters of Charity and co-funded in partnership with
the UNHCR in Damascus

The Oasis of Hope shelter which is run by the National Association for Women’s Role
Development (AWRD) and funded by the Ministry of Social Affairs’.281

272 Gulf News, The homeless of Damascus, 21 October 2016, url
273 Xinhua News Agency, 30,000 orphans registered in Damascus area: report, 16 December 2018, url
274 AW, The lost children of Syria’s war, 5 February 2016, url; TRT World, Orphanages struggle to provide refuge for Syrian

war orphans, 16 January 2017, url; Ayyam [Republished by the Syrian Observer], 27 August 2018, Orphanages in Syria Are
Operating at and over Capacity, url
275 AW, The lost children of Syria’s war, 5 February 2016, url
276 AW, The lost children of Syria’s war, 5 February 2016, url
277 AW, The lost children of Syria’s war, 5 February 2016, url
278 SOS Children’s Villages, New SOS Children’s Village in Damascus, 30 October 2017, url
279 UNFPA/WoS, Voices from Syria 2019 – Assessment Findings of the Humanitarian Needs Overview – Gender-based
Violence Area of Responsibility, 2019, url, p. 61
280 EuroMed Rights is a civil society organisation that promotes human rights in the Euro-Mediterranean region throughpartnerships with NGOs and civil society. EuroMedRights, About Us, n.d., url
281 EuroMedRights, Syria – Situation Report on Violence Against Women, November 2017, url, p. 5

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The same source reported that the shelters have space for about 40-45 women, which is insufficientfor the need.282 In 2019, UNFPA wrote that overcrowding in shelters, at home, and in the streets
increased risks of GBV.283 In the case where ‘the government is the perpetrator, the issue is not tackled
because of its sensitivity and fear of retaliation’, while the law cannot protect women from being sent
home to their families where they may ‘be at risk of an honor killing’, according to EuroMedRights.284
Numerous centres provide psychological counselling and support such as the Red Crescent, Good
Shepherd Sisters, and Syrian Family Planning Association.285 According to the human rights
organisations mentioned in USDOS’ 2018 report, there were ‘no known government run-services for
women’ fearing domestic violence outside Damascus but programming was offered through NGOs
locally, though without reliable funding.286
For more information on the situation of women see the EASO COI Report: Syria - Situation of women(February 2020)

4.3 People with disabilities
Under the law, people with disabilities are protected from discrimination and have rights to access to
education, employment, health and state services, though USDOS wrote that the government ‘did notenforce these provisions effectively’ and the disabled IDP population was described by a humanitarian
NGO as ‘among the most hidden, neglected, and socially excluded of all displaced persons’ in Syria.287
The DIS report from March 2019 about the socio-economic situation in Damascus stated that accessto services and facilities for people with disabilities are available in the city, ‘but the access is limited
and the services cannot meet the demand of the high number of people with disabilities across Syria
who travel to Damascus to receive such services’. There are organisations such as the Syrian Red
Crescent, Amal, and UNDP, which provide services to persons with disabilities. WHO stated that ‘every
disabled person that reaches the centres will receive treatment free of charge regardless of his or her
religious or ethnic background’. There are a few specialised NGOs providing services for persons with
autism.288 In October 2019, SOS Children’s Villages opened a small group home for children withspecial needs in Rural Damascus with spaces for 15 children who have severe mental and psychologicaldisabilities.289

282 EuroMedRights, Syria – Situation Report on Violence Against Women, November 2017, url, p. 5
283 UNFPA/WoS, Voices from Syria 2019 – Assessment Findings of the Humanitarian Needs Overview – Gender-based

Violence Area of Responsibility, 2019, url, p. 61
284 EuroMedRights, Syria – Situation Report on Violence Against Women, November 2017, url, p. 5
285 EuroMedRights, Syria – Situation Report on Violence Against Women, November 2017, url, p. 5
286 USDOS, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2018 – Syria, 13 March 2019, url, pp. 58-59
287 USDOS, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2018 – Syria, 13 March 2019, url, p. 64
288 Denmark, DIS, Syria – The Socio-Economic Situation in Damascus City, March 2019, url, p. 10289 SOS Children’s Villages, A new small group home for children with special needs in Syria, 3 December 2019, url

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5. Networks of support
According to confidential sources quoted by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs in their July
2019 report on Syria, it is important for returnees to go back to their area of origin where they canrely on their social network and tribe; those returning from abroad lack such a safety net if they go to
an area where they do not originate from.290
According to a 2018 article on socio-economic divisions in Syria exacerbated by the war, finding
employment in Damascus was reported to be ‘increasingly difficult without wasta – nepotism orclout’.291
Sources interviewed by DIS for its March 2019 report on Damascus City stated that single women havethe same legal rights as men, however it is culturally more difficult for them to secure those rights.
Furthermore, the DIS interviewed Mercy Corps who stated that ‘women have access to the labour
market and they are able to rent housing for themselves and their families’ and one in threehouseholds relies on women to secure their livelihood; the main challenge in Damascus is the cost ofrent, said one humanitarian organisation.292
Families who have difficulty meeting costs ‘would usually be referred to local NGOs to receive
support’, which may consist of vocational training, food rations, or material assistance like winterclothing. A humanitarian organisation told DIS/DRC that ‘many such families depend on food support
from NGOs or SARC, even in female-headed families, where the woman already has a job, as theincome is often not sufficient to cover all expenses of the family. In practice the allocated food rations
are barely sufficient for families and sometimes the parents have to give their share of the food to thechildren in order to feed them sufficiently. The support provided by local NGOs and SARC has been
diminishing recently due to lack of resources and many organizations have started reviewing theirtargeting criteria, so the aid is channelled toward the neediest groups’.293

290 Netherlands, MFA, Country of Origin Information Report Syria, The Security Situation, (June/July 2019), July 2019, url,

p. 89
291 MEI, Syria’s war economy exacerbates divide between rich and poor, 6 November 2018, url
292 Denmark, DIS, Syria – The Socio-Economic Situation in Damascus City, March 2019, url, p. 9
293 Denmark, DIS, Syria – The Socio-Economic Situation in Damascus City, March 2019, url, p. 9

42 —EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT - SYRIA: SOCIOECONOMIC SITUATION – DAMASCUS CITY

Annex 1: Bibliography
Non-public sources
Austria, BFA Staatendokumentation [Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum – COI Unit], Country
Report on Syria, May 2019 - Updated October 2019. Available from BFA Staatendokumentation.
Public sources
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Annex 2: Terms of ReferenceThis report should focus on the capital, Damascus. The report should address the following key socioeconomic indicators: housing, food security, water and sanitation, health care, education, livelihood
opportunities such as employment, including the situation of returnees and other vulnerable groups.
Internal mobility issues relating to accessibility (travel and admittance) are also to be included.
 City overviewoDemographics, ethno-religious compositionoHumanitarian situation and assistanceo

Displacement and return Internal mobilityoAirports and flights connectionsoFreedom of movement, including impact of ethnic/religious background, place oforigin, age, (perceived) affiliation with opposition groups and being on wanted listsoDocumentsoTravel by road and through checkpoints

 Economic overviewoImpact of economic sanctions

 Employment
 Poverty
 Food security
 Housing, water, and sanitation
 Health care
 Education
 Coping mechanismsoSupport for specific groups (orphans, victims of trafficking, victims of SGBV)oFamily and community networks of support

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doi: 10.2847/35703