The Foreign Ministry warns after a report by „Süddeutsche Zeitung“, NDR and WDR against deportations to Syria, as they have recently brought some Union politicians into conversation. „There is no comprehensive, long-term, and dependable protection for persecuted persons in any part of Syria,“ the SZ quoted in its Tuesday issue from the State Department’s shuttered new state report. For returnees, therefore, the risk remains high.
„Within the particularly close-to-the-regime security authorities, but also in parts of the population characterized by conflict and extreme polarization, returnees are considered cowards and deserters, in the worst case even as traitors or supporters of terrorists,“ the Foreign Ministry warns accordingly. Male returnees between the ages of 18 and 42 would normally be drafted into the military, but were previously detained for several months for desertion.
On Wednesday, the interior ministers of the Länder want to discuss an extension at their conference in Magdeburg. Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) had demanded in the past week to deport at least serious offenders and so-called perpetrators to Syria, „as soon as the situation permits“. Similarly, Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) had expressed.
The Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad officially calls refugees to return. Even a Minister for Refugee Return was appointed and a „Return Commission“ established. In the situation report of the foreign office it is said, however, according to „SZ“, with associated „security checks“ could already be sufficient from the origin of a local opposition to violence or state repression. There were cases known in which returnees were arrested or permanently „disappeared“ since their entry. Also on security guarantees is obviously no reliance.
