Rise of right in EU risks politicizing Syrian refugee issue, activists warn

At a press conference on Thursday (September 12) in Brussels, Syrian civil society groups reiterated the request to the EU and the regional states to guarantee the safety and protection of Syrian refugees, putting a stop to any forced repatriation to Syria.

In Europe “with the rise of the extreme right in many Member States, the issue will become even more politicized,” warned Sawsan Abou Zainedine, CEO of Madaniya, a Syrian-led initiative aimed at enhancing the political agency of the Syrian civic space.

According to the activist, the “refugee dossier is the main factor” for the request of eight EU Member States, among them Cyprus and Italy, to review the EU strategy toward Syria.

“From our interactions with the different Member States and with the EU we know that there isn’t necessarily a unified position but rather it is an issue that generates discussions,” he added.

In a letter sent to the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, the eight Member States call on the group to reassess its policies toward Syria, launching the dialogue with Syria again.

“Our objective is a more active Syrian politics, result-oriented and operational…This would allow us to increase our political influence and the effectiveness of our humanitarian assistance”, wrote the Foreign Ministers of Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, and Slovakia in the note sent to Borrell.

Also read: EU’s Syria policy shifts amid calls to increase deportation

‘Forced repatriations are a huge phenomenon in neighboring countries’

Zainedine and other activists and human rights lawyers recently met high-level officials and members of the EU governments to discuss the increase of violence by authorities that host Syrian refugees, which has been documented by the United Nations and various NGOs such as Human Rights Watch.

It is a “huge phenomenon in particular in neighboring countries”, explained the CEO of Madaniya. “We are talking about hundreds of persons who were repatriated in the last two months from Cyprus, in particular, with documented cases of some of them killed under torture or who ended up fighting for the Russian army in Ukraine,” added the activist.

The increased instability in Lebanon hosting around 1.5 million of the 6 million Syrian refugees, has made many Syrians try to reach Cyprus, the nearest EU country by crossing the Mediterranean.

As a response to the increase in the number of arrivals, Cyprus suspended the processing of asylum requests, since April.

“We are talking of nearly 20,000 forced repatriations from Turkey to Syria”, continued Zainedine underscoring that this “will be a topic of discussion between Syria and Turkey if the current efforts or rapprochement will increase further.”

The lawyer and Director of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, Mazen Darwish, denounced “the strong pressure” suffered by Syrian refugees in some neighboring countries, such as Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey, and in some European countries to “return” to their country of origin.

According to the activist, this pressure will further galvanize “extremism and violence”.

Also read: Is any part of Syria safe for deportations?

Activists, ‘The new EU strategy for Syria should not rehabilitate the regime’

Recalling the discussions on a new EU strategy for Syria, Zainedine underscored that “the diplomatic efforts” that end up rehabilitating “a regime responsible of war crimes and crimes against humanity cannot be considered pragmatic solutions to a prolonged conflict.”

The activist warned that “the current rapprochement effort without adequate consideration for this issue will lay the foundations for a disastrous future for Syria”, weakening “the political process”, “risking the long-term peace and security of Syria and the region”, exacerbating “the violence suffered by the refugees”.

Zainedine said he participated in bilateral meetings with the representatives of “various EU Member States and also with the EU External Action Service” over the recent request of eight EU MS to reconsider the EU strategy for Syria.

“In concrete terms, we discussed how to differentiate efforts toward normalization and rapprochement (to the Syrian regime), and which steps could take us on a slippery slope that would end up rehabilitating a criminal regime,” he stated.

He also added that “many technical dossiers, among them sanctions and the rapid recovery, have not been used well, or rather they were politicized” when “simple technical details could have been organized differently to contribute to driving ahead a political process.”

Also read: As Europe shifts further right, migrants fear for their futures