Anwar Bunni picked up the phone only after two rings. It was December 8, the day Syrian rebels ousted President Bashar Assad and captured Damascus.
Bunni, head of the nonprofit Syrian Center for Legal Studies and Research, has spent more than a decade gathering testimony on crimes committed against Syrians under the Assad government and building cases of crimes against humanity. He was expecting a call from a contact in the German government to hear about his request to return to Syria without losing his refugee status in the European nation.
“We need to go back, I need to go back and rebuild the country,” he told DW by phone from Berlin. “Everyone wants to go and see. Some may come back and restart their lives here, but others will either return now or after they have rebuilt their homes and societies.”
Syrians across Europe celebrated Assad’s ouster from power, but many are unsure whether conditions on the ground will be suitable for his return. According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), 90% of the Syrian population is in Syria needs humanitarian aidmore than that 40% of hospitals are not fully functionalAccording to UN-Habitat, and a world bank report It found that 96% of people in the war-torn nation live on less than $7 (€6.75) a day.
EU eyes role in Syria’s future
Less than a month after Syrian rebels captured Damascus, the German and French foreign ministers met with the country’s new leaders.
EU officials have said the idea is to encourage the formation of an inclusive government and take an active role in helping the Syrian people shape their future. But activists suspect that the motivation behind the quick intervention is also to lay the groundwork for repatriating Syrians. Some EU countries, including Germany, have paused new asylum decisions for Syrians and the bloc’s politicians have signaled that deportations could soon become possible again.
Lift travel restrictions to encourage voluntary returns
Several legal experts and activists in various European capitals told DW that there could be an easier way to encourage voluntary returns: Let Syrians in Europe return for short visits without fear of having their protected status revoked. Rebuild your homes.
He said European governments were undermining their own goals by preventing Syrians from coming to see if their homes were still standing. Experts also compared it to Ukrainians seeking refuge in Europe.
“Ukrainians are allowed to return to Ukraine for short visits, for example to maintain property or support relatives, without losing their protection status in the EU,” Catherine Woollard, director of the European Council of Refugees and Exiles, told DW from Brussels. To do.” ,
Woollard said, “A similar approach should be extended towards Syrian refugees. At present, they will almost certainly lose their protection status.” “Allowing short trips to re-establish connections is likely to increase return numbers.”
Syria travel puts EU security at risk
French activist Gérard Sadiq, head of asylum issues at the French NGO La Cimade, agreed, saying that not being allowed reconnaissance travel without losing their protection status is currently the “biggest problem” for Syrians in Europe.
“In the ’90s, Bosnians were allowed temporary visits, now Ukrainians are. But not Syrians, not at the moment,” he said. “Syrians who have received French citizenship are free to leave and return. But others fear they will lose everything here, like homes and schools, everything.”
Different EU rules for Ukrainians and Syrians
Conditions differ for Ukrainians and Syrians in the EU because the bloc offers them protection under different programs.
While Syrians receive protection under the asylum system, which is based on the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, Ukrainians receive temporary protection, which came into existence two decades ago following mass migration primarily to the EU. Was brought in. Bosnian conflict.
In 2022, when Russia launches a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the EU becomes active temporary protection system For Ukrainians fleeing the war. The idea was to provide protection as well as reduce pressure on national asylum systems already under pressure from people arriving from the Middle East.
Temporary protection allows recipients to visit their home country and return to the host country, but once the war ends, they are expected to return en masse. Persons granted refugee status or subsidiary protection, as is the case for most Syrians, have the legal right to oppose deportation.
Short trips should not be an ‘excuse’ for withdrawing security
Some activists believe that under EU law, the EU Eligibility Directive, even Syrian refugees are allowed temporary visits without losing their status. They argue that protected status can only be legally revoked if they settle permanently in the country of origin.
Wibke Judith, legal spokesperson for the German organization Pro Asylum, said, “The EU eligibility directive applies to all member states and it predicts the end of protection if you leave the protection of your home country or re-establish yourself there. Does.” “This is quite different in our opinion from brief visits, for example to see relatives when they are very ill or for example in the case of Syria, to search for missing family members.
He said, “One could also say that it is also in the interest of European governments who want refugees to leave, to allow these trips so that people can see if they can return to their home country.” From this we can find a future.” “But such short visits should still not be taken as an excuse to withdraw the necessary protection status.”
Bunni said he joined nine other Syrian civil society representatives and met with German government officials to request that Syrians be allowed to return for temporary visits and was assured that the government would look into the matter. .
Edited by: Sean M. Sinico
