Council of Europe: Sweden must not send the Syrians home

Published 13 December 2024 at 10.37

Law & Right. It is time for the Syrians in Sweden to go home, stated Jimmie Åkesson. However, Sweden is bound by the European Convention for so-called human rights – and now the Council of Europe makes it clear that you absolutely cannot just send immigrants home anyway.

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No member state of the Council of Europe – not even Sweden – is “allowed” to send back Syrians if they are “at risk of harm” in their home country.

This is made clear by Michael O'Flaherty, human rights commissioner at The Council of Europe, in a statement.

After the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime, several European countries have paused the processing of Syrian asylum applications and signaled that they are considering sending home Syrians who have received protection.

Michael O'Flaherty warns that this is against international conventions, and then in particular the principle of “non-refoulement”, which prohibits forced deportation to dangerous areas.

– In accordance with the principle of non-refoulement, no individual should be sent back to a situation where they are at real risk of harm. On this basis, the rapidly changing conditions on the ground in Syria require careful, evidence-based decisions, says O'Flaherty.

An asylum status cannot be withdrawn unless “fundamental and lasting” changes have occurred in the country of origin, he reminds .

Michael O'Flaherty emphasizes that decisions on refugee status must be based on careful assessments of the risks to the “human rights” in Syria and warns against falsely assuming the country is “safe”.

Should be prepared to receive more
Even for Syrians who want to return themselves, member states have an obligation to offer full information about the situation on the ground in Syria. This is to ensure that they do not make any hasty decisions and enable Syrians to return “in a well-informed and truly voluntary way”, according to the commissioner. “Legal or material pressure” to bring about voluntary return is not allowed, according to O'Flaherty.

Should conditions in Syria deteriorate again, European countries must also prepare to receive even more Syrian immigrants and see to have a functioning asylum system, the Council of Europe underlines.

Michael O'Flaherty promises to follow the situation “closely” and to intervene if any member state should try to break against the provisions of the European Convention.

In addition to Sweden being bound by the European Convention, we are also members of the EU, which also has very strict rules that in practice prohibit collective return migration.