Confinement in a detention center, consular discussions … France has tried everything to deport people to Syria, “scandalous and illegal” procedures, several NGOs and associations denounced on Friday, calling for a “clarification” from the French government. These attempts date back to October 2022, when two prefectures, those of Haute-Garonne and the Paris police headquarters, began “demarches with the Syrian embassy” in France, “while diplomatic relations between France and Syria have been officially broken since March 2012”, reported the organizations Amnesty International, La Cimade and Revivre, in a joint press release.
Two cases that call into question a status quo that is several years old: no expulsion to this country fragmented by a long civil war. “Scandalous and illegal attempts in international law”, summarized the organizations for the defense of immigrants. “Our organizations are asking the government to clarify its position by reminding the prefectures of France’s international obligations, which absolutely prohibit the return of a person to a country where they risk death, torture and other ill-treatment. “
“We had never seen that in recent years. It is shocking that in a frantic quest for the execution of the OQTFs (obligations to leave French territory), the authorities come to break the commitments of France, which ensures that it no longer to have diplomatic relations with Syria”, lambasted AFP Manon Fillonneau, responsible for migration issues at Amnesty International. “We would not imagine deporting someone to Ukraine” today, she added.
Syria’s refusal
Even if the two people concerned were finally released by the judge of freedom and detention (JLD), the simple fact of having initiated the procedure by placing them in administrative detention centers (Cra), one in Toulouse and the other at Mesnil-Amelot in the Paris suburbs, constitutes a violation “in full knowledge of the facts (of) international and European rules”, noted the authors. Especially since, according to these organizations, it was only the refusal of the Syrian embassy to issue a consular pass for lack of a valid identity document “that made it possible to prevent the expulsion requested by the French authorities. “.
“France must proclaim loud and clear its attachment to the Geneva Convention: France must not detain or attempt to deport any person to a country in which they risk being exposed to torture, inhuman treatment or degrading, and where his life or his freedom would be threatened”, still claimed the signatories. “There is a little music at the moment, which says that Syria is more and more secure”, resumes Manon Fillonneau, who recalls that the persecution of people returning to Syria after having sought refuge abroad “is perfectly documented”.
“tolerated residence” for Syrians
In an interview with Le Monde in November to present his immigration bill, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said he was open to a “tolerated residence” status for Syrians: “There are people in who we refuse asylum and to whom we issue OQTFs but who cannot be deported because they are Syrians or Afghans, and we have no diplomatic relations with Bashar al-Assad or the Taliban”, he had Explain.
Questioned by AFP, the Ministry of the Interior replied on Friday that “there is no deportation to Syria”, without commenting on the cases noted by NGOs and associations. In 2022, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 3,825 people died in the violence in Syria.