SOHR condemns practices against Syrian refugees in Denmark for forcing them to return to Syria
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has condemned and denounced the repression practiced against the Syrian refugees in Denmark with the aim of forcing them to leave to Syria, under the pretext that “Syria has become a safe country”. We, at the Syrian Observatory, stress that the regime’s control of most of the Syrian geography does not mean that regime-held areas are safe. On the contrary, Syria has lacked the minimum levels of safety and security, especially with the regime security services’ dominance exercised over the residents. Moreover, the security services are not subordinated by a specific authority, as in Damascus, for example, there are various security branches, and every branch of them is under separate command and follow varying directions. SOHR activists had reported many arrests targeted people who returned to Syria from asylum countries under various pretexts and fabricated accusations. Such incidents confirm that the Syrian regime is still tightening security measures as a part of its repression against civilians. The refugees who want to leave Denmark or any other European country and return to Syria may be loyal to the Syrian regime and they had left for economic causes. There may be other reasons we do not know behind their departure from Syria. Furthermore, these people proclaim their loyalty to the Syrian regime.
It is worth noting that the Danish authorities have canceled the residence permits of over 200 Syrian refugees, including school and university students, employees and workers in several sectors, so these refugees have returned to the temporary residence centres, in preparations for being repatriated to Syria. These refugees lived in houses in various areas throughout Denmark with official residence permits.
We, at the Syrian Observatory, call upon the Danish authorities to comply with the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (the 1951 Refugee Convention) and the European Convention on Human Rights and put an end to the strict measures against the Syrian refugees and to the campaigns on social media on ways to encourage the Syrians to return to their country, including a campaign launched by right-wing popular parties dubbed “the Sunny Syria”.