As It Happened7:06Austrian threat to deport Syrians is more rhetoric than reality, says refugee advocate
The refugee advocacy group Lukas Gahleitner-Gertz has been sending out many panic calls from Syrians living in Austria.
That's because the country has threatened to start sending Syrians back to their homeland now that rebels have overtaken Bashar al-Assad's regime.
“Many of them are asking if they can be deported immediately,” said Gahleitner-Gertz, a legal expert with Asylkoordination Österreich. As It Happened hosted by Nil Köksal.
“We are trying to calm the people down. “
Austria is among several European countries that have suspended asylum applications from Syria until a clearer picture emerges about the country's political future.
Canada, which has not seen the same income as its European counterparts, will continue to process applications as they come, said Immigration Minister Marc Miller.
Austria pledges 'orderly return and deportation'
Germany, Britain, Italy, Croatia, Norway, Poland and Sweden have also temporarily stopped issuing decisions on asylum applications from Syrians, citing the evolving situation in the war-torn country. France is considering a similar move.
Gahleitner-Gertz says that's to be expected. Asylum claims, he says, must be based on facts. Right now, with a power vacuum in Syria, it's hard to reach those.
But Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner took it a step further, saying on Tuesday: “I have instructed the ministry to prepare an orderly program of repatriation and deportation to Syria.”
Karner did not provide further details on what this would look like or who would be affected.
Gahleitner-Gertz says there is no legal basis for mass exports.
“It's kind of a show that's more of a signal to their own voters, but it doesn't have to do that much with reality,” he said.
“(They say,) 'We don't want these people. We want them to go back. We don't want more people to come.' And this creates a situation of fear.”
The Syrian government fell early Sunday. CBC's Briar Stewart breaks down what happened and what this could mean for the future of the country and conflict in the Middle East.
That fear can be seen in the Syrian communities in Austria, says Abdulkheem Alshater from the Free Syrian Community in Austria, an organization that helps integrate Syrians in the country.
“A lot of people are afraid of being deported,” he told CBC via a messaging app, translated from German.
Alshater, 43, fled Homs, Syria, nine years ago after taking part in demonstrations against the Assad regime.
He says he and his fellow Syrians in Austria are celebrating the fall of Assad, a president he says has brutally terrorized and imprisoned his own people for years, and Syria's notorious prison evacuation where many opponents of the regime were detained and tortured.
But just because Assad is no longer in power does not mean that Syria is safe, he said. The country is still reeling from the effects of more than a decade of war.
He says that it is not yet clear who will be in charge of the case, what will become of the people who worked for the Assad regime, or what kind of political system will emerge in the end.
“Syrians will return once a free democracy is in place,” he said.
As It Happened7:55Ex-Syrian detainee 'overwhelmed with joy' as rebels free prisoners
When the rebels opened the doors of the famous Sednaya prison in Syria, Omar Alshogre celebrated. Alshogre, a former Sednaya detainee now living in Sweden, spoke to As It Happens host Peter Armstrong about what he calls “the worst place humanity has created.”
Amloud Alamir, a Syrian journalist in Berlin, agrees.
She works for Amal Berlin, a news site that reports in Arabic, Ukrainian and Dari/Farsi for the German city's refugee and immigrant population.
She says many Syrians believe the pressure on return is “premature and ignores the realities on the ground in Syria,” which include warring groups and their supporters between -national with competing interests and ideologies.
“The fall of the Assad regime represents a major political shift, and is of great importance to our future as Syrians. We could not have imagined it, with tears mixed with laughter. Finally, we are free from the Assad family and from this fascist regime,” she told CBC in a voice memo.
“But establishing a peaceful and democratic Syria is not easy.”
The International Refugee Committee, a humanitarian aid group, is urging countries not to force Syrians to return against their will.
“The events in Syria are shocking proof that humanitarian misery, mass displacement and widespread killing are no basis for a stable state,” said David Miliband, the group's president. he said in a press release.
“We ask all countries where Syrians live as refugees to adhere to the principle of safe and voluntary return. Syria needs its people, in all its forms, but it must be the they have a choice.”
More rhetoric than truth, says a legal expert
Gahleitner-Gertz says Austria's export threats are more rhetoric than reality.
Syrian refugees in Austria have protection under the country's asylum system, he says, and that cannot be arbitrarily removed without a hearing and legal representation.
In order to deport someone, he says, the government would have to prove that the country they came from is safe – something that is unlikely in light of recent events.
Currently, the rebels who ousted Assad interim chief support, and promised safety and unity to the Syrians. But the international community continues to monitor Hayat Tahrir al-Shams (HTS), the former al-Qaeda affiliate that led the revolution.
Alshater notes that Iran and Libya have also experienced revolutions, with both countries ending up with oppressive regimes.
“We cannot allow the same thing to happen in Syria,” he said. “The West and Europe must work for a democratic and independent Syria.”
With files from Elizabeth Withey, The Canadian Press and Reuters. Interview with Lukas Gahleitner-Gertz produced by Katie Toth.
