Syria: "Even a country in civil war does not have to be generally unsafe"

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For Daniel Thym, the international lawyer, the view of Syria has changed.

So far, the general assumption has been that the devastated country is generally too unsafe due to the ongoing civil war, which is why there has been a general ban on deportation from Germany since 2012.

But the head of the Law Faculty of the University of Konstanz and the Research Center for Aliens and Asylum Law now sees things differently.

On behalf of the North Rhine-Westphalian Minister of Integration, Joachim Stamp (FDP), the law professor investigated the possibility of repatriations to countries with poor security and widespread violations of human rights.

Above all, the detailed evaluations of the European Asylum Office have decisively shaped his point of view.

“This shows that the regions around Aleppo and Idlib are still unsafe.

But especially in Damascus the situation is less critical, so that in fact, at least theoretically, new possibilities are opening up that have not existed before, ”says Thym WELT.

Asylum law expert Daniel Thym: "Even the existence of a civil war does not mean that a country has to be generally insecure"

Source: pa / dpa / Jörg Carstensen

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His report is 49 pages long and should serve as the basis for discussions on Syria at the Conference of Interior Ministers (IMK) from Wednesday.

Difficult dealing with the Assad regime

In his expertise, Thym argues with numerous references to a kind of paradigm shift.

"If we assume that Syria is no longer generally unsafe, then we have to return to what is the normal case of asylum law and human rights, which means looking at the individual case, the actual circumstances in the respective target region and the individual living situation of the To involve people and to carry out an individual assessment on this basis, ”says Thym.

End of November: Residents of the Yarmuk Palestinian camp on the outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus take strolls for a walk

Source: AFP via Getty Images

The international lawyer points out in his report, which is available to WELT, that this point of view is also firmly established in case law.

In principle, the “existence of a civil war does not in itself mean that there is general uncertainty nationally or regionally.

Rather, the authorities and courts have to examine separately whether the level of arbitrary violence is sufficiently high. "

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Thym also refers to Afghanistan and Iraq.

According to the established case law, countries are only to be classified as generally unsafe “in exceptional cases” if there is a “most extreme situation of general violence”.

“Even the existence of a civil war - as in the case of Afghanistan - does not mean that a country has to be generally insecure.

Instead, human rights require a case-by-case examination, which also shapes administrative court practice.

While Iraq has not been considered generally unsafe for years, this assumption has so far been widespread for Syria, ”writes the law professor.

However, the report does not constitute a plea for the start of deportations.

Even with a differentiated view, it will currently hardly be possible to deport criminals and potential terrorists of Syrian origin to less dangerous parts of the country.

"It would be particularly difficult to return Islamist threats who are often threatened with torture or inhuman treatment," the report says.

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The possibility of obtaining diplomatic promises for humane treatment, as is practiced with other countries, is considered difficult and politically inopportune, especially with regard to the regime of the Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad.

"At the moment no chances"

"The present report by Professor Thym shows: There is no simple and no clear solution," said NRW Integration Minister Joachim Stamp (FDP).

The legal situation is very complex.

Theoretically, a return to certain parts of Syria such as Damascus is possible in individual cases.

“In practice, the legal and practical hurdles are so high that at this point in time I see no chance of returning to Syria.

This is not least due to the fact that no cooperation is possible with the Assad regime. "

Syria's ruler Bashar al-Assad at a video conference with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in November

Source: AP

In contrast to the other federal states, in North Rhine-Westphalia the Minister of the Interior is not responsible for matters relating to immigration law, but Stamp as Minister of Integration.

The most populous federal state deported 28 threats and 24 security-relevant people this year and is thus at the top nationwide.

Three other threats left voluntarily under police surveillance.

According to the current status, there are still 69 threats in NRW, 19 of them are of Syrian origin.

“Of course, I would like to deport all terrorists and intensive offenders, including those from these countries, today rather than tomorrow.

However, it does not make sense to hold out the prospect of such returns if it is not legally and practically possible, ”says Stamp.

With a view to Syria, the free democrat therefore proposes “to extend the general ban on deportation for six months and to evaluate Professor Thym's legal opinion in a federal-state working group”.

The federal government and the federal states needed a “clear catalog of criteria under which conditions returns to Syria and comparable countries are possible at a suitable time”.

A new situation report from the German Foreign Office on Syria has been announced for the IMK.

Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) has demanded in advance that instead of a general ban on deportation, an individual review should apply again.

According to the ministry, it is about a signal from Seehofer "that criminals and perpetrators have forfeited their right of residence in Germany and that the entire federal government must ensure that it is decided in individual cases that criminals and perpetrators are deported again".

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The interior ministers generally use the strictly confidential situation reports from the Federal Foreign Office as a yardstick for assessing the situation in Syria.

But international lawyer Thym is critical of this.

"According to my observation, the situation reports, especially from the European Asylum Office (EASO), have substantive advantages over the statements of the Federal Foreign Office, which occasionally circulate in the specialist community," the professor writes in his report.

The EASO reports are much more detailed and publicly available.

NRW Integration Minister Stamp would therefore find it sensible if the Foreign Office would at least make information relevant to asylum publicly available: “That should be possible without endangering the protection of sources.

That could contribute to further objectification of the debate. "