The authorities have transferred only a handful of Syrians to detention centers so far
The nightmare of deportation freezes the lives of Syrian refugees in Denmark
Bilal al-Qalai's family is among hundreds of Syrian refugees in Denmark stuck in a dire situation.
AFP
Bilal and his wife participate in a protest demonstration against the decision of the Danish authorities.
AFP
Bilal Majed's 14-year-old son says he is "disappointed", while 17-year-old Saeed, who was preparing to enter a professional chef's school, indicates that the future is completely uncertain for him.
AFP
Rawan (10 years old) lives her life simply without caring about what is going on around her.
AFP
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The family of Bilal al-Qalai, among hundreds of Syrian refugees stranded in Denmark, is in a dire legal situation, as the authorities withdrew their temporary residency, but they cannot be deported, and they are currently deprived of all rights.
Al-Kalai, who ran his own small transport company in Denmark, discovered in March that he would not be allowed to remain in the Scandinavian country where he had lived as a refugee since 2014, as Copenhagen now considers Damascus safe and possible to return to.
The Danish authorities' decision also includes his wife and four children.
Since the verdict was confirmed in the Court of Appeals in late September (similar to 40% of the nearly 200 other cases heard so far), al-Qalai and his family were ordered to leave, and told that if they did not leave voluntarily they would be transferred to a detention center.
The family refuses to leave.
Normally, the family was supposed to be deported, but since Copenhagen does not have diplomatic relations with Damascus, this was not possible, so they had to wait.
Meanwhile, the family has been stripped of their rights in Denmark, and Kalai can no longer sleep as he looks over and over at his phone and checks his messages, and the 51-year-old asks: "What will happen to me now?"
"Everything has stopped, the kids are no longer going to school and I have no work," he says, with desperation on his tired face, as he sits in his own furnished house in the small village of Lundby, an hour and a half drive from Copenhagen.
"The point of all this is to annoy people enough to make them leave Denmark," he says.
wanted
For him, returning to Syria means inevitable death.
"I cannot go back, I am wanted," he told AFP.
Yet he has no way of making a living in Denmark.
"As a foreigner residing illegally in Denmark, your rights are very limited," notes his lawyer Nils-Eric Hansen, who has applied to grant the family new residency.
In the middle of 2020, Denmark became the first country in the European Union to review the files of about 500 Syrians from Damascus, which is under the authority of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, saying that "the current situation in Damascus no longer justifies granting or extending a residence visa."
Later, the scope of the decision was expanded to include the governorate of Rif Dimashq as well.
Despite a wave of wide criticism, both from within and internationally, the Social-Democratic government, which pursued an immigration policy considered among the most stringent in Europe, refused to back down.
Currently, the Al-Kalai family is considering leaving for another European country, even if it risks being sent back to Denmark.
The eldest daughter of the family was over 18 when she arrived in Denmark, and therefore has her own residence, and is currently undergoing reconsideration.
Among the other three sons, the youngest (10-year-old) seems alone to live her life simply without caring about what is going on around her. On the other hand, her brother (Majid - 14 years old) confirms that he is "frustrated", while 17-year-old Saeed indicates who He was preparing to enter a professional chef's school, until the future was completely uncertain for him.
The authorities have transferred only a handful of Syrians to detention centers so far, which are being criticized for their poor sanitary conditions.
hostages
Asmaa Al-Natour and her husband Omar were among them.
The couple have been staying at Sialmark camp, which has been an army barracks surrounded by barbed wire and has been overseen by the prison administration since late October.
Al-Natour says: "This center has to disappear. It is not suitable for humans, not even animals, there are rats there."
The couple, who have two sons, aged 21 and 25, arrived in Denmark in 2014.
Al-Natour said: "My husband and I opened a shop selling Arab products, and things were going well, then I decided to resume my studies, but everything stopped now," noting that all she wanted was to "restore her life."
She stressed, "Returning to Syria means imprisonment or even death, since we are opposed to Bashar al-Assad. He is a criminal."
"The Danish authorities are holding (his clients) hostage," says Nils-Eric Hansen, who also represents the couple.
He explains that the government is trying to "spread a message that in Denmark, we are being deported to Syria."
Finally, Amnesty International criticized the Syrian security forces' use of violence against dozens of refugees who returned to their country.
In turn, the Danish authorities stress that the situation is appropriate for the safe return of Syrians.
"If you are not personally persecuted, there have been no war-related businesses in Damascus for years now, which is why some can return," the government's spokesman on immigration, Rasmus Stocklund, told AFP.
About 35,500 Syrians currently live in Denmark, more than half of them arrived in 2015, according to official statistics.
The United Nations objected
Earlier, the United Nations criticized the Danish authorities for denying Syrian refugees residence permits, considering that the situation in their city of Damascus is safe.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees expressed its “concern” about the Copenhagen decision, which dates back to last summer, despite the suspension of deportations at the present time, in light of the absence of links between the Danish government and the Syrian authorities.
"UNHCR does not consider recent security improvements in parts of Syria to be sufficiently substantive, stable or permanent to justify the termination of international protection for any group of refugees," the international organization said, in a statement issued in New York a few weeks ago.
"We continue to advocate for the protection of Syrian refugees, and demand that they not be forcibly returned anywhere in Syria, regardless of who controls the area in question," UNHCR said.
Denmark follows a strict reception policy with the aim of achieving "zero asylum seekers", and encourages the voluntary return of Syrians, and has only issued temporary residence permits since 2015.
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