Despite appeals from rights organizations, Denmark became the first European country to withdraw residency permits from Syrian refugees.
Syrian activists believe that the decision of the Danish government will cause a lot of suffering from the separation of family members from ruining the future of others, especially those in schools or universities.
Youssef Bakdash, a Syrian activist and member of Dozana, a Danish-Syrian organization for the integration of Syrian refugees, says sending Syrians back to the war-torn country would be a big mistake.
The Danish government began to withdraw residence permits of some Syrian refugees, in preparation for their deportation, which due to the lack of a public government exchange between the regime and Denmark and the explicit violation of the European Human Rights Convention, is yet to be implemented.
So far, 200 residence permits were withdrawn without possibility of appeal, and 400 cases that can still be appealed.
Those who went back to Syria did not arrive in Denmark through asylum, but through family reunification; meaning that they did not seek political or humanitarian asylum. In fact, there are no more than eight cases to whom this situation applies, Bakdash added.
“Danish media also uses this story constantly as propaganda against us,” Bakdash said, adding that they consider that anyone who went to Erbil, Lebanon, or Turkey has actually entered Syria.
Because Denmark has no diplomatic relations with Syria, those who refuse to leave the country cannot be sent to Syria. Instead, they are sent to deportation centers, separated from family, unable to work and withdrawn from education programs.
The policy is the product of a left-wing Social Democratic-led government, whose immigration stance has come to resemble that of far-right parties after years of large migrations peaked in 2015 with 1 million new arrivals in Europe. The large numbers of people coming from Africa and the Middle East energized populist movements across the continent, pushing parties that had a more welcoming position to embrace stricter policies, according to AP.
Refugees, who have been targeted by this decision, are those who are vulnerable, such as women, men over 42 and people with special needs and chronic diseases. Bakdash believes that, in reality, the decision has nothing to do with the issue of travelling back to Syria and more to do with the fact that it is in line with the right-wing government’s position on refugees.
Danish authorities had previously tackled the file of refugees coming from Damascus and its countryside, claiming that the two areas are safe based on a report by the Danish Refugee Assistance organization. It is clear in the report, which was approved by the Danish Immigration Services, that the representatives of the organization moved only in areas specified by the Syrian regime and under its guard.
“It simply means that the reports were issued according to the wishes of the regime and the right-wing parties of the Danish government,” said Bakdash.
According to available data, it is expected that 1000 permits will be permanently withdrawn, most of them from Damascus and its countryside. Presently, 8 cases from the Syrian coast are being looked at by the Danish government, which indicates that the decision is gradually including most or all Syrian regions.
In estimation, around 9000 people targeted by the decision will most certainly lose their permits.
Refugees, whose residence permits are withdrawn, have been transferred to a deportation center, where, according to Bakdash, they experience new kinds of suffering, losing all their rights as refugees, from right to work and to education, to the freedom to choose the food you eat. Refugees must adhere to a meal schedule at 7am, 12, and 5pm, with food chosen by the deportation center. They must also sign daily attendance forms, Youssef explained, and if any of these rules are violated, the deported will be transferred to enclosed deportation centers under police guard and barbed wire.
Because of the poor conditions in these deportation centers, many request deportation and “voluntary return” and are, in turn, granted 22,000 euros with half the amount given before the trip back to Syria, and the other half a year after arriving there.
Bakdash revealed that the money itself becomes a curse upon returning. “We are in contact with the family of one of those who ‘voluntarily’ returned at the end of last year and who was kidnapped. The kidnappers are demanding 20 thousand euro in exchange for his life.”
In regime-controlled areas, including in the suburbs of Damascus and many parts of central Syria previously held by opposition rebels, the security situation has stabilized, but entire neighborhoods are destroyed, and many people have no houses to return to. Basic services such as water and electricity are poor to nonexistent.
Moreover, forced conscription, indiscriminate detentions and forced disappearances continue.
Bakdash revealed that a joint Syrian-Danish lobbying team, with the cooperation of some left-wing parties and Syrian and Danish human rights organizations, is working to challenge the decision through protests and spreading awareness on the issue all over Denmark, in spite of the absence of Danish media.
“We are trying to convey our voice to the world and the United Nations as well as to the media outside Denmark. The decision sets a terrible precedent in Europe and the world, in which people’s lives are at stake,” he added.
The conflicting figures in the media about the number of Syrian refugees in Denmark to the fact that the numbers differ between those who applied for asylum and those who came through family reunification or are newly born, stressing that the actual total number of all Syrians is 40,500.
The Danish government argues that it made clear to the Syrians from the beginning that they were being offered only temporary protection.
This week, experts who contributed to reports on which the Danish authorities based their assessment condemned that conclusion, warning in a joint statement published by Human Rights Watch that “conditions do not presently exist anywhere in Syria for safe returns.”
Denmark's approach marks a dramatic transformation of a nation that was the first to sign the 1951 U.N. Refugee Convention, and which was long seen as a paragon of openness and tolerance.
Zaman Al Wasl
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