UN Criticizes Denmark over Syrian Refugees Deportation Policy

The Danish authorities have come under new criticism for denying Syrian refugees residence permits to consider the situation "safe" in Damascus, on a path that the United Nations said lacks justification.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees expressed "concern" about the Copenhagen decision, which dates back to last summer, despite the current suspension of deportations in the absence of links between the Danish government and the Syrian regime.

"The UNHCR does not consider the recent security improvements in parts of Syria to be sufficiently substantial, stable or permanent, to justify ending the international protection of any group of refugees," she said in a statement issued in New York on Thursday evening (local time). The UNHCR said that it "continues its call for the protection of Syrian refugees and demands that they not be forcibly returned to any place in Syria, regardless of who controls the area in question."

Since the end of June 2020, Copenhagen has embarked on a large-scale process of reviewing each of the 461 Syrian files from the Syrian capital, on the grounds that "the current situation in Damascus no longer justifies (granting) or extending a residence permit." This is the first decision of its kind for a country in the European Union