Are Syrian refugees’ rights at stake in Europe after Assad’s fall?

euronews (in English)

Several European countries have suspended processing asylum requests from Syrian nationals following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria.

Transcript

00:00We are free, we can't believe it.

00:02I lost my father, many of my friends in Syria. We will go back.

00:08Several European countries have suspended the Syrian asylum procedures

00:13after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria.

00:16Among them, Germany, Austria and Sweden,

00:19the main host countries for Syrian refugees in the EU.

00:23Austria is re-evaluating the status of Syrian refugees

00:29who arrived less than five years ago

00:31and has also announced a deportation program.

00:36The rights of Syrian refugees and asylum seekers are at risk today

00:40in a Europe in which the far right continues to grow

00:43prospecting increasingly stringent rules against immigration.

00:47And the EU can intervene on how member states manage war refugees

00:52we see it on European Stories.

00:58An Asian-led offensive overturned Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria

01:02on December 8, 2024.

01:04The Islamist group, ex-Kaida Ayat Ahir al-Sham,

01:08has put an end to 13 years of civil war and 24 years of dictatorship.

01:12The HTS is considered a terrorist group by the UN and the European Union.

01:17The Syrian civil war has caused one of the most serious migratory crises in the world.

01:22More than half of a population of 23 million people has been forced to flee.

01:28More than 7 million remain stranded in Syria.

01:31Almost 5 million are refugees in the border countries,

01:34mainly Turkey.

01:36In Europe, there are more than one million Syrian refugees and asylum seekers.

01:40Most live in Germany, Austria and Sweden.

01:44For 12 years, Syria has been the first country of origin for asylum seekers in the EU.

01:49In 2023, the number of asylum seekers increased by 17%.

01:54Today, the restrictions on asylum procedures put more than 100,000 requests at risk.

02:09About 100,000 Syrians live in Austria.

02:12Their enthusiasm for Assad's fall quickly followed a sense of fear.

02:16And here, in this market, in the heart of the Syrian neighborhood, no one wants to talk about it.

02:24The outgoing conservative government has begun to send letters of rejection of the status of refugee

02:29to those who have received it for less than five years.

02:32In fact, Vienna considers that with the end of the Assad regime,

02:35there is a primary reason why the Syrians have received the status of refugees.

02:46A refugee agreed to tell us about the day when Assad fell and what happened next.

02:53He is one of the founders of the Free Syrian Community Association in Austria,

02:57which brings together about 150 members of various religions and minorities.

03:16The whole Syrian population was happy.

03:19And the next day, the interior minister said,

03:22now the Syrians have to leave and return to their homeland.

03:27And we find it inhuman and unacceptable what the Austrian government is doing.

03:33Will the Austrian government send us away or not?

03:37What exactly will happen?

03:39We are afraid. Syria is not yet safe, not yet stable.

03:46In mid-January, the government had already sent hundreds of letters to Syrian refugees,

03:51informing them that a procedure to revoke their status had been initiated.

03:5658,000 refugees arrived in Austria in the last five years are on alert.

04:01We gave people support and information on what to do next.

04:06Some people have so many family members in Syria and they are worried.

04:13Many of them have received letters and cannot continue to work with their families.

04:23About 5,000 Syrians in Austria have initiated a family reunification practice.

04:31Abdul Kim is helping a friend to understand how to move after the arrival of the letter to revoke his refugee status.

04:37Abdul Monem, a former veterinarian, arrived four years ago and hoped to bring his loved ones to Vienna.

04:45When I received the letter, I had hope and I was working.

04:50In addition to work, I wanted to study.

04:53I had a very good mentality.

04:55When I received the letter, my mentality was completely destroyed.

04:58I felt that I could not work, I could not study.

05:01I was completely disappointed.

05:03I could not study, I could not work.

05:05I was thinking about my family.

05:07What happened to us?

05:09I was not able to contact my phone.

05:12What is this situation?

05:14This situation is not working with us at all.

05:16We had hope and it was gone.

05:20The wife, three children and a son of Abdul Monem are still in Syria.

05:25A country that for him is still too unstable to return.

05:29The 1,000 euro bonus that Austria has offered to encourage voluntary departures is out of the question for him.

05:371,000 euros will not do anything.

05:39The one who sold his land, who sold his house, who did not leave anything to sell, to get here.

05:441,000 euros, what will it do?

05:51The fall of Assad opened a new chapter for Syria and a new legal battle for Syrian refugees in Europe.

05:58Determined to defend their rights.

06:12There is a real risk of deportation today in Europe and Austria for Syrian asylum seekers.

06:19I asked the lawyer and spokesman of the Austrian NGO Asylkoordination.

06:25The state of Austria has the right to evaluate if the reasons why the people receive the status are still existing.

06:34But we are very far away that actually people have an obligation to leave the country.

06:41The announcements done by the Ministry of Interior were aimed at the Austrian electorate to show that they are being tough on asylum seekers.

06:50But they do not reflect reality.

06:53There is a big debate about Syria being considered or not a safe country to go back to.

06:59At the moment the member states are deciding.

07:02But do you agree that it should be the member states?

07:05Basically the asylum law in the European Union is very diverse.

07:11It is still actually a lot in the competence of the member states.

07:15The European Commission should actually be able to issue guidance on how to proceed with these cases right now.

07:24Because the goal has to be that there are procedures that are the same in all the countries.

07:35The European Union is still far from harmonizing its refugee protection system.

07:41This is why the future of more than one million Syrian refugees in Europe is uncertain.

07:46It is full of national policies that are not always in line with shared European principles.

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