Al-Asad says "the refugee crisis is a manufactured problem" while the European Union turns a deaf ear

Today the International Conference on the Return of Syrian Refugees organised in Damascus and Moscow started. The event will be attended by mainly Arab and Asian countries and without the presence of the European Union (EU), which has decided not to attend the controversial event. 

The official Syrian agency SANA reported yesterday that those attending will discuss the conditions for the return of millions of refugees to the country, which has been at war since 2011, and the existing obstacles to their return, among other issues.

The President of Syria, Bachar al-Asad, said today that the Syrian refugee crisis is a manufactured problem and assured that the Arab country continues to be the place where refugees go to seek asylum, instead of fleeing the country.

"Although Syria has suffered successive occupations throughout its history, it continues to be the place where others go to flee from unrest and crisis, and not the other way around", said the Arab leader at the opening of the international conference.

During his speech, Al-Asad indicated that the Syrian authorities continue to "work diligently for the return of any refugees who wish to return and contribute to the construction of their homeland". Even so, he warned that there are major obstacles and "pressures on Syrian refugees abroad to prevent their return".

In this connection, the leader referred to the economic sanctions imposed by the US administration, which he described as "illegal" and stated that they "hinder the efforts of Syrian state institutions aimed at rehabilitating the infrastructure in areas destroyed by terrorism".

The Syrian president furthermore accused the United States and its allies of "mobilising Daesh's terrorists with the aim of dispersing the Syrian armed forces" in 2014, when, he said, the Syrian state was "on the verge of imposing security and stability" on the country.

"If the case of refugees for the world is a humanitarian issue, for us it is not only a humanitarian issue, but also a national one... that is why we have managed to get hundreds of thousands of refugees to return over the last few years," the Syrian president said during his speech.

The conference is attended by representatives of 12 organisations and 27 countries, including China, Russia, Iran, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan and Oman, while the European Union announced yesterday that it would not be attending the event.

The conflict in Syria, which began in 2011 and is still ongoing, has devastated the country with nearly 17 million inhabitants, from which 5.55 million people have fled to other parts of the world, while another 6.6 million are displaced within their own country, according to data from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

The Council of the European Union announced yesterday that several ministers and senior officials have been invited to the conference, which they will not attend as they consider that the current "priority" must be the creation of conditions for a "safe, voluntary and dignified" return.

"While the decision to return must always be an individual one, conditions in Syria at present do not lend themselves to the promotion of large-scale voluntary return in safety and dignity in line with international law," the Council warned in a statement.

In this regard, the Council defended that the "limited" returns that have taken place have revealed the existence of "many obstacles and threats" such as indiscriminate detentions, forced disappearances, torture, sexual violence or a shortage of basic services.

According to SANA, Sousan said that "all" countries have been invited except Turkey, which is a supporter of the Syrian opposition. "No positive issues can be expected from the regime of Erdogan, the first sponsor of terrorist organisations in Syria," the deputy minister concluded, adding that the UN would act as "observer".

The Syrian refugee crisis has forced the European Union to make migration pacts with Turkey to stem the tide of people trying to reach European countries. This has been considered as an act of evasion by the European Union which leaves in the hands of Erdogan the questionable management of the refugees, as well as their conditions and rights when applying for asylum.

During the International Conference on the Return of Syrian Refugees, it is hoped that a basis for safe return and the guarantee of the rights of all refugees, regardless of the country they are in, will be developed.