Danish refugee board overturns decisions to send home Syrians
The Danish refugee appeals board has overturned the immigration authority’s decision to repatriate Syrian refugees from Damascus in 43 percent of cases, according to a newspaper report.
Since summer 2020, the Danish Immigration Service (Udlændingestyrelsen) has revoked the residence permits of 186 Syrian refugees.
But the Refugee Appeals Board (Flygtningenævnet) has overturned 80 of these decisions, according to the report, published in the Jyllands-Posten newspaper on Friday.
Earlier this year, 11 out of 12 expert sources used by the Danish government in its latest report (from October 2020) of the security situation in Syria went public to distance themselves from the conclusions of the final report.
A judgement by immigration authorities that Damascus along with its surrounding province, Rif Damascus, are safe for the return of refugees leaned on the conclusions of the report and others.
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A lawyer for a number of the Syrian refugees affected by the decisions, Niels-Erik Hansen, told Jyllands-Posten the frequency at which the decisions were reversed was unacceptably high.
“It gives the impression that Immigration Service has done a very poor initial piece of work,” Hansen said.
Only seven Syrian refugees have so far actually returned to Syria after losing their asylum status in Denmark according to government figures reported by news wire Ritzau.
Because Denmark does not cooperate with the Assad regime and can therefore not forcibly send the refugees to Syria, refugees who lose asylum status and do not leave voluntarily face detainment in one of Denmark’s departure or expulsion centres.
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Since summer 2020, the Danish Immigration Service (Udlændingestyrelsen) has revoked the residence permits of 186 Syrian refugees.
But the Refugee Appeals Board (Flygtningenævnet) has overturned 80 of these decisions, according to the report, published in the Jyllands-Posten newspaper on Friday.
Earlier this year, 11 out of 12 expert sources used by the Danish government in its latest report (from October 2020) of the security situation in Syria went public to distance themselves from the conclusions of the final report.
A judgement by immigration authorities that Damascus along with its surrounding province, Rif Damascus, are safe for the return of refugees leaned on the conclusions of the report and others.
READ ALSO:
- ‘My mother risks going to jail’: Why is Denmark sending refugees back to Syria?
- Denmark criticised over plan to repatriate Syrians to ‘safe’ Damascus
- Denmark’s Syria report: 11 out of 12 sources reject conclusion, leaving only Assad general in support
A lawyer for a number of the Syrian refugees affected by the decisions, Niels-Erik Hansen, told Jyllands-Posten the frequency at which the decisions were reversed was unacceptably high.
“It gives the impression that Immigration Service has done a very poor initial piece of work,” Hansen said.
Only seven Syrian refugees have so far actually returned to Syria after losing their asylum status in Denmark according to government figures reported by news wire Ritzau.
Because Denmark does not cooperate with the Assad regime and can therefore not forcibly send the refugees to Syria, refugees who lose asylum status and do not leave voluntarily face detainment in one of Denmark’s departure or expulsion centres.
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