Asyl law - Court denies protection status for Syrians due to civil war
For applicants from Syria, the Administrative Court of Münster, according to the latest ruling, sees no general danger for them from a civil war at present. The first appellate court decision of this kind contradicts the previously common practice at the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, which, in the usual case, grants subsidiary protection as war refugees to Syrian applicants.
This limited protection applies to people who are not recognized as individually persecuted refugees but provide substantial reasons why they would face serious harm – such as civil war – upon return to their home country. Until now, in asylum proceedings, it had been assumed in the case of Syria that there was a serious threat to the life or physical integrity of civilians from the internal conflict there.
Recently, there have been calls from the county council and the Union to no longer grant subsidiary protection – the lowest level of protection for asylum seekers – to Syrians. The Association for Refugees, however, fears that this would be an upgrading of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
Court: No danger for asylum seekers in Syria is high
In the case of the plaintiff – a Syrian national from the Hasaka province – the court saw that the necessary conditions were not met in his home region in the northeast or in Syria as a whole and dismissed the lawsuit.
Although there are still armed clashes and occasional attacks in the Hasaka province, they no longer reach the level that civilians must reckon with being killed or injured, the competent senate justified its decision. The judgment is not yet final. Even if the appeal was not granted, an appeal can still be filed.
Court: Applicant excluded from asylum protection due to criminal record
Furthermore, the judges mentioned another reason that speaks against the recognition as a refugee and the subsidiary protection: The Syrian plaintiff had participated in the smuggling of people from Turkey to Europe before his entry into Germany. He had already been sentenced to a several-year prison term in Austria for this reason.
The plaintiff was in court because he wanted to be granted full refugee status. According to the court, he was excluded from subsidiary protection due to his criminal record.
- In response to the changing circumstances in Syria, the Higher Administrative Court Münster has revised its process for determining subsidiary protection for asylum seekers.
- The latest ruling from the Administrative Court in Münster suggests that there is currently no widespread danger for Syrian migration seekers due to the ongoing civil war.
- This new approach contrasts with the traditional practice of granting subsidiary protection to Syrian asylum applicants by the Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge (Bamf), which operates under German asylum law.
- The Association for Refugees has raised concerns that discouraging the granting of subsidiary protection to Syrians could potentially strengthen the position of President Bashar al-Assad's regime in North Rhine-Westphalia, where Münster is located.
- The Administrative Court in Münster has recently dismissed a lawsuit filed by a Syrian asylum seeker from Hasaka province, citing the absence of substantial threats to life or physical integrity due to the lessened intensity of the civil war.
- Despite the presence of armed clashes and sporadic attacks in Hasaka province, the court determined that civilians no longer face a significant risk of death or injury, helping to justify its decision to exclude the plaintiff from asylum protection.
- In addition to these factors, the court considered the Syrian plaintiff's criminal record in Austria for his involvement in human smuggling, which further disqualified him from seeking asylum or subsidiary protection in Germany.
