European countries put Syrian asylum bids on hold after Assad's fall

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00:00The speed with which rebels took control of the country has stunned western capitals,

00:04but it's also raised concerns about further regional instability.

00:08While they've hailed the end of the Assad regime, European leaders also view his sudden toppling

00:13as fraught with danger, anxious to avoid fresh turmoil that could send migrants and jihadists

00:19once again to the continent. Several countries, including France, Germany, Italy and Sweden,

00:24are suspending all Syrian asylum applications because of the unclear

00:29situation in their homeland, while Austria says it's also preparing to deport refugees.

00:38It is important to first establish facts, to put asylum and family reunion procedures on hold.

00:44We need to wait until the dust settles, so we can see what is happening,

00:48what the next points are, where can we dock. The situation on the ground is still very convoluted,

00:54very complex. There is nothing new, unfortunately, when it comes to Syria.

01:00With more on the view from Brussels, let's cross live now to our correspondent. Dave Keating is

01:04standing by for us. Dave, throughout the course of today, we've seen statements coming in from

01:09various European capitals. A consensus does seem to be emerging. What is the latest?

01:18Yeah, I mean, it seems like every hour we're getting the announcement of a new country

01:22suspending these asylum applications. Here in Belgium, we just heard that they will also

01:27be suspending. Now, the reason given for this is the uncertainty in Syria. Essentially,

01:32they're saying we cannot determine at this moment whether Syria is a safe place to go or not.

01:38And of course, asylum claims would normally be granted on the basis of Syria being an

01:42unsafe place. But we have those comments from the Austrian interior minister to Austrian media

01:49going much further than that, saying that he has ordered that the ministry start preparing to

01:54deport Syrians who are there, Syrian refugees in Austria, back to Syria. He didn't really give a

02:02lot of detail about that or who among the 100,000 Syrian refugees in Austria he would be referring

02:08to, which category of refugee. But it's clear from the speed at which this has been moving that

02:15these countries have wanted to freeze these applications for some time. And indeed, even

02:20before the fall of the Assad regime, countries were talking about suspending the acceptance of

02:26asylum claims from Syrian asylum seekers on the basis of it being safe and stable under the Assad

02:33regime. Basically, that the Assad regime, that the conflict had remained frozen and Syria was

02:37no longer unsafe. So now it's quite strange that they're actually now suspending those applications

02:42on the opposite justification. So it's a very unclear situation right now. What's the strangest

02:50about this is that HTS, which has led the rebel overthrowing of the government, is designated as

02:58a terrorist organization by both the United States and the United Kingdom. But the United Kingdom is

03:04also one of the countries that has frozen the processing of the asylum claims, saying that

03:09essentially that Syria may now be a safe country, that they can't return the asylum seekers don't

03:16need to get away from, which is a strange position to take at the same time that the government is

03:20still designating this group that's taken over the government as a terrorist organization. So

03:25a lot of lack of clarity here right now. And a lot of people are asking, what is the long term

03:30sustainability of these policies? And Dave, as you say, European leaders saying asylum

03:35applications will be suspended until the situation in Syria becomes clearer.

03:40But that could take some time. So where does all of this leave those asylum seekers?

03:48Exactly. That's what a lot of, particularly the rights organizations that represent refugees are

03:53questioning here. It's very clearly will not be apparent whether Syria is a safe place or not

04:00anytime soon. That could take many, many months. But under international law, these countries

04:05are obliged to deal with these asylum claims within six months. So if this pause went on longer

04:11than six months, that would be a problem. And that time period could come even sooner for some of

04:16these applications that were made, let's say, three months ago, but haven't been processed yet.

04:22So it's very unclear right now how the assessment would be made, whether Syria is a safe place

04:30for refugees either to return to or to stay at, and also when that determination could be made.

04:38And that could be very, very critical, a very critical question when it comes to

04:43the requirements under international law. Dave, we'll leave it there for now. Thank

04:47you so much for joining us with all the latest from Brussels.

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