Austria has been pushing home for the first Syrian for ten years!
Austria has been pushing home for the first Syrian for ten years!
On Monday, June 23, a 32-year-old Syrian was deported from Austria to Syria for the first time in many years. This measure was organized by the Federal Office for Foreign Affairs and Asylum (BFA) and is an important step in Austrian asylum policy. The man was in campaigning until he was deported after he had previously committed several crimes and had been in prison for several years. He had tried to proceed in court against deportation, but was unsuccessful.
The Ministry of the Interior has not publicly confirmed or denied the deportation. Syria has agreed to take back the man and he was issued a return trip certificate that expires on the day of the deportation. This deportation represents a premiere: it has been the first return of a Syrian citizen for at least ten years. In this way, Austria is involved in the few EU countries that are deported despite the uncertain situation in Syria.
security situation in Syria
The security situation in Syria is assessed as critical by several experts. According to Lukas Gahleitner-Gertz from the Asylum Coordination Austria, the deportation is in accordance with both Austrian and European law. The European Court of Human Rights has not imposed deportation, which underpins the legal basis of the decision. Nevertheless, the situation in Syria remains dangerous for returnees, which is why lawyers and human rights activists express concerns about possible arrests or even torture.
The present deportation is part of a larger trend in the EU, where only every fifth rejected asylum seeker is actually deported. Among other things, the reasons for this include the uncertain location in countries such as Syria and the often denied withdrawal by the states concerned. However, the EU plans to introduce new return guidelines that enable automatic enforcement of negative asylum notices in other EU countries. The aim of these measures is to increase the deportation rates and to make the asylum procedures stricter.
The Austrian Interior Minister Karner has also spoken out to simplify deportations in safe third countries. Such measures could help establish a more effective return policy. In the future, countries that guarantee human rights could also be considered as goals for deportations. Nevertheless, it remains to be seen how the political discussions in the EU Parliament will be through this regulation.
The debate about deportations and asylum policy will shape the next few months, while Austria's authorities and the EU continue to try to strengthen the trust of citizens in the asylum systems.
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