Rebels on Sunday declared Damascus ‘free’ from President Bashar al-Assad, after 12 days of an offensive by a coalition led by the Islamist group Levant Liberation Organization, along with other factions backed by Turkey, to overthrow the Syrian regime.
“Taking into account the situation, it is not possible to assess the grounds for protection at this time,” the Swedish Migration Board’s head of legal affairs, Carl Bexelius, said in a statement.
Sweden was the second country in the European Union (EU) to welcome the largest number of Syrians fleeing the civil war in 2015 and 2016, after Germany. Swedish authorities will also suspend expulsions until the political situation in Syria becomes clearer.
In Denmark, the Refugee Appeal Commission indicated in a statement that “it has decided to suspend the processing of cases relating to people from Syria, due to the very uncertain situation in the country, following the fall of the Assad regime”.
For its part, Norway also decided to suspend the analysis of Syrian refugee cases, pending the stabilization of the situation. Since the beginning of this year, Norway has received 1,933 asylum applications from Syrian citizens.
The United Kingdom also decided to “temporarily” suspend the analysis of asylum applications from Syrian citizens, with the British Home Office announcing that they are “on temporary pause”, “during the period necessary to assess the current situation” in the country, after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad.
The governments of Italy and the Netherlands also announced the suspension of the analysis of asylum applications from Syrian refugees.
The Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, took this decision after meeting this Monday afternoon with her Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani, the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, the Minister of Defense Guido Crosetto and members of the secret services, to analyze the situation in Syria.
Italy also decided to maintain the diplomatic headquarters, deeply thanking all the staff deployed.
Italy and the Netherlands follow the same path
The Dutch Government also announced that the immigration services will suspend assessments of asylum applications presented by Syrian citizens in the Netherlands for the next six months, due to the uncertainty.
Dutch Minister for Migration and Asylum Marjolein Faber (far right) pointed out that “currently, there is not enough clarity on the situation in Syria to make an informed decision on Syrian citizens’ asylum applications” and the Law for Foreigners allows the decision period to be extended in situations of “temporary uncertainty about the country”.
However, requests pending for more than 21 months must be resolved and the forced return to Syria was not, in itself, possible due to the lack of diplomatic relations with the Al Assad regime. To deport a person it is necessary to negotiate with the country of origin.
The asylum policy applied in the Netherlands to Syrian citizens is mainly based on the “general insecurity” of the country, accentuated by the repressive actions of the Syrian authorities in a large part of the territory.
