A/HRC/49/44 officially reclassified Damascus as “safe”134 and proceeded to revoke residency and work permits of approximately 400 Syrian refugees from the capital.135 As of February 2022, those deportations have not commenced. In March 2019, U.N. experts raised alarm at reports of Rohingya refugees being forcibly deported from India to Myanmar, where they face potential violence and persecution from the military. 136 Interlocutors also have reported that security forces in India are using arbitrary detention to deter Rohingyas from fleeing to India. 137 In February 2021, Indian Coast Guards allegedly deliberately delayed the rescue of a drifting boat hosting 87 Rohingya refugees. Although eight people had died, Indian authorities prevented the survivors from even disembarking.138 54. Over the past decade, up to 4 million refugees and over 32 million IDPs have returned to parts of their own country where armed conflicts have concluded or diminished significantly in intensity.139 Devastation and neglect in such conflict-affected areas is usually so significant that returnees find it very difficult to establish new livelihoods, access essential services, and benefit from the rule of law. Reintegration of returnees is not a simple reversal of displacement, but a dynamic process involving individuals, households, and communities that have changed because of their experience of displacement, often for protracted periods. However, insufficient trust-building and reconciliation processes and a lack of state capacity to reassume responsibility for the rights of its citizens and the rule of law frequently challenge sustainable reintegration. 55. In societies with historically limited investment in gender equality, including land rights, employment and education, women may face significant obstacles in securing income and livelihood opportunities. Without a sustainable livelihood, returning members of minority communities may need to uproot again. 56. Religious or belief minorities also frequently face barriers when accessing effective remedies in conflict, transition, and post-conflict situations. Under international law, States are obliged to provide an effective remedy to victims of human rights violations. 140 Remedies may differ depending on the victim's wishes and the local context. Some religious or belief minorities prioritize safe return to their homeland, rather than the prosecution of perpetrators. For example, the return of properties and businesses seized forcefully or appropriated in their absence were key to a sense of justice and future security for some Yazidi and Christian communities in Syria. 141 Meanwhile, some minority communities in Iraq believe that effective reconciliation must prioritize truth-finding, searches for the missing (including exhumation of mass graves) and memorialization of the dead and disappeared over criminal justice proceedings.142 Yet, according to the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq, the Government has only made limited progress on respecting victims’ rights to truth and reparation, identifying the fate of the disappeared, and holding perpetrators criminally responsible.143 57. In several regions, religious or belief minorities have asserted that domestic justice mechanisms are insufficiently independent or empowered to adjudicate cases arising from 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 https://www.refugeesinternational.org/reports/2020/1/28/lebanon-crossroads-growing-uncertaintysyrian-refugees. https://ecre.org/denmark-experts-contributing-to-coi-reports-condemn-decision-to-deem-damascussafe-for-return-as-unhcr-reconfirms-its-position-on-returns-to-syria/. https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2022/1/11/how-Denmark-hard-line-Syrianrefugees-aid-group-ethical-dilemma. https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/03/10/india-halt-all-forced-returns-myanmar. AL IND 5/2019. UA IND 6/2021. https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/download/?url=Zo8NDs. ICCPR, art. 2(3); Convention Against Torture, art. 14; CEDAW, art. 2; International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination art. 6; Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, art. 4. Consultation-Peacebuilding. Consultation-Iraq; https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/IraqMassGraves.aspx https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/IQ/UNAMI-OHCHR-report-enforceddisappearances.pdf. 15