12/07/2020

A civil society appeal to the German state interior ministers

No deportations to Syria, no cooperation with the Assad-regime! (Press Release)

On the occasion of the Conference of the Ministers of the Interior, which begins on Wednesday, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), the Paritätische Gesamtverband, ProAsyl, Medico International, SeaWatch and numerous other organizations sent a joint appeal to the ministers, demanding them to extend the ban on deportation to Syria, which would otherwise expire at the end of the year.

"The situation in Syria still does not allow deportations. In particular, members of ethnic and religious minorities are still suffering from systematic persecution and massive violence. Because of these circumstances, the ban on deportation should be extended," emphasized Lina Stotz, STP expert on ethnic, religious, and linguistic minorities and nationalities.

In recent weeks, several state interior ministers of the CDU/CSU as well as Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer had spoken out in favor of ending the ban on deportations to be able to deport potential perpetrators ("Gefährder" in German) and criminals to Syria.

"If the interior ministers decide to end the ban on deportation to Syria, this will play into the hands of the Assad regime – and a rehabilitation of the Syrian torture regime would mock the millions of victims of the brutal dictatorship", criticized Mariana Karkoutly, Syrian activist of Visions4Syria and active in the campaign #SyriaNotSafe.

The appeal is a strong reminder to the interior ministries that there is widespread and systematic torture in Syria – as was shown by the torture trial at the Higher Regional Court in Koblenz, for example, where two former employees of the Syrian secret services had to answer for crimes against humanity. The signatories of the appeal emphasize the universal validity of the prohibition of torture under the European Convention on Human Rights: Nobody may be subjected to torture!

In addition, the organizations' appeal also emphasizes that deportations to Syria are in fact to be seen as a cooperation with the Assad regime. Because of its systematical war crimes and crimes against humanity, the Assad regime is the target of international sanctions. Numerous Syrian authorities and members of the regime are on the EU sanctions list, including Interior Minister al-Rahmoun. The signatory organizations warn that a cooperation with the Assad regime undermines international sanctions, contributes to the rehabilitation of the regime, and mocks its victims!

The text of the appeal (in German) and a list of the signatory organizations can be downloaded here.