Judgment ignites dispute over deportations to Syria
Since 2011, hundreds of thousands of people have fled war and violence in Syria to Germany. A court in Münster is now questioning the blanket protection for civil war refugees from this country. The ruling is causing quite a stir.
A ruling by the Oberverwaltungsgericht in Münster regarding the status of a Syrian has raised significant questions. The logic behind this, according to Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann in Berlin, is that one must always examine precisely which part of Syria someone can be deported to. The spokesperson for Pro Asyl, Wiebke Judith, criticized: "The Oberverwaltungsgericht of North Rhine-Westphalia is deciding beyond the reality in Syria." Relevant sources such as the Foreign Ministry's situation report show that there is still "a considerable conflict situation." Furthermore, practically no one is safe from the "regime of torture of dictator Assad."
Buschmann stated: "One can no longer say that the security situation in the entire country is the same everywhere, but it must be looked at precisely." This is a court decision that can be understood, Buschmann continued, if one assumes that there are now regions in this country that are very dangerous, but also other regions where there is not necessarily a threat to life and limb.
The court had noted in its judgment that for civilians in Syria, "there is no serious, individual threat to their lives or bodily integrity due to arbitrary violence in the context of an internal armed conflict." The plaintiff in this case had been sentenced to imprisonment in Austria before entering Germany due to his involvement in human smuggling from Turkey to Europe.
The court stated that there was no political persecution threatening him. His application for recognition as a refugee was rejected due to his criminal record before entering Germany. The prerequisites for subsidiary protection were also not met. This limited protection applies to people who are not recognized as individually persecuted refugees but have compelling reasons why they would face serious harm – such as civil war – if they were to return to their country of origin.
Criminals and Islamic "threats"
Until now, in asylum proceedings for Syria, there had generally been assumed to be such a threat to the lives or bodily integrity of civilians. In the case of the plaintiff, who comes from the Hasaka province, the court did not see this as a given in his home region in the northeast or in Syria as a whole. The judgment is not legally binding.
"The Federal Ministry of the Interior and the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees are constantly reviewing the decision-making practice based on available sources," a spokesperson for the Federal Ministry of the Interior said in response to an inquiry. Among these sources are court decisions, and decisions of the Oberverwaltungsgerichts play a significant role in this regard.
At the Interior Minister Conference in June, there was consensus that criminal offenders and Islamist "threats" should be deported to Afghanistan and Syria in the future - possibly via neighboring countries. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said at the time in Potsdam that she had already been in talks with several countries about this. For Syria, not only the practical questions but also a reassessment of the situation in that Arab country is necessary. She is confident that she will be able to resolve this with Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in the near future.
Marco Buschmann, the Federal Justice Minister, emphasized that the security situation in Syria is not uniform across the country and must be examined carefully for potential deportation cases. Critics like Wiebke Judith from Pro Asyl argue that the Oberverwaltungsgericht in Münster is disregarding the current reality in Syria. In the recent conference of Interior Ministers, it was agreed to consider deporting criminal offenders and alleged Islamist threats to Syria and Afghanistan, pending a reassessment of the situation in these countries.
