Asylum application files submitted by Syrians are suspended in France. That's 700 files that will have to wait, while we see how the political transition in Damascus evolves, Jean-Noël Barrot said this Sunday.
Some 700 asylum application files submitted by Syrians are suspended in France, while we see how the political transition in Damascus evolves, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs said on Sunday.
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“Today there are 700 Syrian asylum applications which are being examined by Ofpra (French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons, editor’s note), and which are suspended while waiting to find out more” , explained Jean-Noël Barrot on RTL.
Suspension of asylum applications in around ten European countries
More than 100,000 requests for international protection from Syrians in exile in the European Union are being considered in the 27 member countries, according to the EU Asylum Agency (EUAA).
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In a context of strong progress by far-right parties in recent elections, around ten European countries have decided, since the fall of Bashar Al-Assad in Damascus at the beginning of December, to suspend asylum requests.
The head of French diplomacy also indicated that certain refugees could return to Syria without immediately losing their status, which the law, in principle, does not allow them.
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“In a situation as special as the one we are experiencing, (…) it is legitimate that certain Syrians who have refugee status wish to quickly find their family, their property, their home, without necessarily, because they do not “do not yet have all the insurance, permanently renounce the protection”.
Exemptions “are possible in certain circumstances”
The French government is examining this situation, Mr. Barrot said. “There are exemptions which are possible in certain circumstances (…) They have been granted in certain cases”.
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Around 45,000 Syrians benefit from political refugee status on French territory, including those who have fled since the start of the uprisings against Assad in 2011, according to Ofpra.
The Revivre association, which has welcomed Syrian refugees in France since 2004, calls for “a moral, humanist commitment from the French authorities, consisting of saying that Syrian refugees can go to Syria without there being any problems upon their return to France “.
