Denmark's reply to our letter is disheartening and reinforces its position of telling hundreds of Syrian refugees to return to Syria. The fact is, no part of Syria is safe to return to.
On Wednesday 2nd June we sent this letter to the Danish government’s minister for immigration, Mattias Tesfaye. You can read his disappointing response underneath. Together, we must continue calling for the rights of Syrian refugees in Denmark to be respected and protected.
Dear Mattias Tesfaye,
We are writing to urge the Danish government to immediately stop revoking, and to extend instead, the residency permits of all Syrian refugees – including those of over 380 Syrians who have already been told to return to Syria. Syria is not safe for any refugee to return to and your government is neglecting its duty to protect people fleeing persecution by pursuing this inhumane policy.
As of today, 13,897 people around the world have signed The Syria Campaign’s petition calling on Denmark to protect Syrian refugees, including 1046 people in Denmark: https://thesyriacampaign.org/denmark
To this day the Assad regime continues to arbitrarily arrest, torture and kill thousands of civilians. By ordering refugees to return to Syria in these extremely violent conditions, or move into prison-like deportation camps, your government is tearing families apart and putting hundreds of people at risk of the regime’s crimes against humanity. These are people who have already fled a brutal war and survived unimaginable human rights violations.
The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria’s report on Arbitrary Imprisonment and Detention from this March details how after a decade of conflict, tens of thousands of civilians remain forcibly disappeared in Syria, while thousands more have been subject to torture, sexual violence or death in detention. The report shows how detention under the Assad regime is centralised around Damascus, where your government is now telling refugees to go back to. The 2021 Report of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria also specifically warns of the risks of the general conditions in Rif Damashq, another area that Denmark has wrongly deemed safe for refugees to return to:
“Syrians are routinely denied return to their places of origin, notably due to restrictions on access placed by the Government and fear of arrest in retaken and formerly besieged areas, in particular in Rif Damashq, Daraa, Quneitra, Homs, Hama and Aleppo.”
The European Asylum Support Office (EASO)’s September 2020 report underlines the danger of returning.
“Disappearances and arrests on return to Syria, including at the airport in Damascus, have been reported. The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) noted that since 2014, they documented at least 1,916 arrests of Syrian refugees who returned to Syria; of these, 1,132 were released and 784 remained detained, of whom 638 were ‘forcibly disappeared’. SNHR documented 15 cases of returnees who were reportedly killed due to torture.
“Returnees face a lack of rule of law, widespread human rights violations and poor economic prospects […] Furthermore, the control of Syrian security sector over society is strengthening. The Syrian military and security services arrest and detain individuals to gather intelligence, to punish those considered to be disloyal, and to extract payments from families for the release of the detained. […] Returnees to recaptured parts of Rural Damascus, Dar’a, Homs and Aleppo were also asked to pay fees for water, electricity, phone, municipal and real estate taxes during the period they fled.”
We have conducted our own interviews and research that indicate that women and elderly people have been disproportionately targeted by the immigration services, as Denmark recognizes that men are at risk of forced conscription into the Syrian army if they return. Denmark is right to protect men, but women also face significant risks if they return to Syria including arbitrary detention, torture, and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in prison. They must receive equal protections and we remind Denmark that Syria is not safe enough to withdraw any Syrian’s refugee status based on Article 1C (5) of the 1951 Convention. By downplaying the extreme risks that women face in Syria for their political views, Denmark is stereotyping Syrian women and perpetuating the oppression and discrimination that it is so quick to condemn in other countries and cultures.
Your government has sought to justify its decision by referring to a report by the Danish Immigration Service that falsely claims that Damascus is safe, but 11 out of 12 of the named sources have criticised the report for misrepresenting their views and have condemned the government’s policy. In its shameless denial of the ongoing dangers throughout Syria, your government is showing disdain for the institutions and mechanisms established to protect refugees, and a dangerous lack of solidarity with your European neighbours.
We are highly concerned that in April you even reiterated in a written comment that, “the government is in dialogue with our closest partners to create the possibility of forced deportations to Syria as soon as possible,” which would require direct cooperation with the criminal Syrian regime. Even if Denmark does not carry out forced deportations to Syria, giving refugees a choice between living in limbo under inhumane, prison-like conditions in a camp, or returning to a country where they can face detention, torture, and violence is no choice at all. It’s coercion.
The UN and the EU’s positions are clearly against telling refugees to return to Syria. In relation to Denmark’s actions, the UNHCR has said it “does not consider the recent improvements in security in parts of Syria to be sufficiently fundamental, stable or durable to justify ending international protection for any group of refugees.”
The EU’s own position after the recent Brussels V Conference is unambiguous:
“conditions inside Syria have not been met for the promotion or organisation of large-scale, safe and dignified voluntary return in line with international law […] All governments hosting refugees and asylum seekers in the region and beyond must uphold non-refoulement and commit to a moratorium on summary deportations of Syrian refugees.”
And in its resolution in March 2021 the European Parliament called on all member states to strengthen their protections for Syrian refugees. The resolution,
“reminds all Member States that Syria is not a safe country to return to; believes that any return should be safe, voluntary, dignified and informed, in line with the EU’s stated position; calls on all EU Member States to refrain from shifting national policies towards depriving certain categories of Syrians of their protected status, and to reverse this trend if they have already applied such policies”
Over 13,800 people have signed The Syria Campaign’s petition calling on the Danish government to protect Syrian refugees and calling on other European countries to protect Syrians where Denmark is failing, and international media such as the Guardian, NY Times, and Washington Post have covered your government’s decision heavily over the past months. The United States has already spoken out saying that the situation in Syria is as grave as ever, and human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are campaigning against Denmark putting refugees at risk.
Denmark has a moral obligation to protect Syrian refugees from Bashar al-Assad’s brutal regime, and we urge you to reverse your government’s shameful policy.
Yours sincerely,
The Syria Campaign
