Since the fall of the Assad regime on December 8, the issue of the return of Syrian refugees to their country without the risk of having their protection revoked has been raised in many countries of asylum, as happened in Germany, the Netherlands and France recently.
Syrian refugees in France want to return to their country, without losing the possibility of leaving or losing what they have built elsewhere, sometimes over several years.
The French newspaper Le Monde reported that a group of fourteen Syrian refugees, including a teacher, a computer expert, a journalist, a lawyer and a housewife, sent an open letter to President Emmanuel Macron asking them to be allowed to return to Syria without losing their rights and having their protection revoked in France.
Contributing to reconstruction
With the political change underway in Damascus, exiled Syrians see the possibility of "contributing to the reconstruction of the country and to the hoped-for democratic transition." This letter, entitled "Freedom of Action, Right of Return," came in the wake of the overthrow of the deposed regime of Bashar al-Assad on December 8, 2024.
The campaign's lawyers, Roman Ruiz and Rafael Kempf, also appealed to the head of state in a separate letter on Monday to find "a technical solution to this fundamental issue" and a "safe passage" that would allow "these refugees to go to Syria and return to France without losing their protection and thus their right to stay."
The principle of return
The newspaper pointed out that, in principle, a refugee may not return to his country of origin, lest he risk having his status withdrawn.
The Geneva Refugee Convention, in fact, stipulates that protection ceases if "a person voluntarily takes refuge again in the protection of the country of his nationality."
The French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA) told Le Monde that it had decided in 2024 to suspend around 150 cases on this basis, involving Russian and Turkish citizens.
Existence of "exceptions"
In early January, the newspaper "Liberation" quoted the head of French diplomacy, Jean-Noël Barrot, as hinting at the possibility of "exceptions" in light of the "special situation", and also announced the suspension of around 700 asylum applications submitted by Syrians in France, pending the development of the political transition process in Damascus.
According to figures from the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons, France has granted asylum to more than 30,000 Syrians since 2014, and the response was positive to around 40,000 applications over ten years, including more than 4,400 applications last year. Reports from the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA) indicate that it has received around 2,500 applications from Syrian citizens this year. 700 of these are still being processed.
According to the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons, around 45,000 Syrians have political refugee status on French soil, including those who fled their homeland since the uprising against Bashar al-Assad began in 2011.
Fares al-Rifai - Zaman al-Wasl
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