“Human Rights Watch” Organization: The absence of indiscriminate violence in part of Syria does not mean the country is safe for the return of refugees

The Refugee and Migrant Rights Division Director at Human Rights Watch Organization, Bill Frelick, confirmed that the absence of indiscriminate violence in part of Syria does not mean that it is safe for the return of refugees.

Frelick’s statement came in response to statements by Cyprus’s Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou, in which he expressed his regret that European Union member states can’t return asylum seekers to Syria.

Frelick said in a statement that the European Union Asylum Agency (EUAA) still classifies eight Syrian governorates as provinces suffer from high levels of indiscriminate violence, adding that areas, where bullets are not flying, are not risk-free.

The statement made it clear that the governments, which eagerly seek to get the green light to deport the Syrians opposing to their nonrefoulement obligations, did not fully and fairly examine the threat representing by general violence and food insecurity in most of Syria.

The statement called for the need to seriously consider the allegations of persecution of any Syrian who fled the country towards Europe, pointing out that the Assad regime’s security services and affiliated militias are still continuing to arrest, kidnap, torture and kill refugees returning to Syria.

The statement pointed out that the Syrian refugees were subjected last July to torture in Military Intelligence prisons, and were forcibly recruited to serve in the reserve forces.

It is noteworthy that the organization documented that Syrian refugees returning to their country between 2017 and 2021 were subjected to grave human rights violations and persecution at the hands of the Assad regime.