The Human Rights Watch (HRW) on March 13 warned against the forced return of some Syrian refugees to their country by the Danish authorities after Copenhagen deemed more areas, controlled by the Syrian regime, “safe.”
Denmark’s Ministry of Immigration and Integration told Rudaw’s Bizhar Zubair in an email on Friday that it has no intention to carry out any forced return of Syrians “for foreign policy reasons.”
“At this point, in relation to Syria, the Danish immigration authorities only consider cases concerning persons from Damascus, Rif Damascus and Latakia in relation to revocation and denial of extension of temporary residence permits granted on the grounds of general conditions as laid out in the Danish Aliens Act section 7 (3). Thus, revocations only concern cases in which the authorities have assessed that the person in question is not at individual risk of persecution,” added the ministry.
Damascus is the capital city of Syria and Latakia is a stronghold of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
The ministry also said that its Refugee Appeals Board “still finds the situation in these areas severe, fragile and unpredictable, but concluded that the situation has improved, and the Board does not consider the changes to be of a completely temporary Nature.”
The ministry said reports by their authorities, Swedish authorities as well as NGOs and international rights organizations, including HRW, are taken into consideration when deciding which areas are safe.
However, HRW said in March that the Syrian regime continues its abuses against people in the so-called safe areas.
“While active hostilities may have decreased in recent years, the Syrian government continues to subject citizens to the same abuses that led them to flee in the first place, including arbitrary detention, mistreatment, and torture,” it noted.
Denmark has revoked the residency permits of at least 150 Syrian refugees from Damascus and surrounding areas since 2019.
Amnesty International says Hungary and Denmark are the only European Union states that revoke Syrian’s residency permits.
Millions of Syrians have fled their country since 2011 due to the devastating civil war at home. A deadly quake hit parts of the country, making the lives of Syrians, especially the displaced ones, more miserable. Humanitarian aid from the international organization is insufficient and most people do not benefit from it.