A court in Germany has ruled that there is no longer a general danger to all civilians in Syria, and that a convicted Syrian people smuggler can legally be deported to his home country. The ruling could significantly impact deportation cases, because the German government has so far classified Syria as an unsafe country of origin and rejects deporting failed asylum seekers there.
Support for resuming deportations to both Syria and Afghanistan has increased after a spate of violent knife attacks in recent months, and the murder of a policeman by an Afghan failed asylum seeker. However, despite the leftist-liberal government vowing to deport dangerous criminals, it hasn’t followed through with actions.
The argument for deporting Syrian criminals will only intensify after another knife attack in which four Syrian men are the suspects. The men, aged 21, 27, 28, and 32, were detained on Sunday night in the northern city of Neubrandenburg for stabbing an 18-year-old man following an altercation.
The top administrative court in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia ruled that, despite ongoing, isolated armed clashes in Syria, the fighting no longer reaches a level at which civilians face a high probability of being killed or wounded.
The court gave its verdict in connection with a man from Syria who arrived in Germany ten years ago. Authorities denied him protected status because he had previously been involved in smuggling people from Turkey to Europe, an offense for which he was given a several-year sentence in Austria. A lower court had ruled that the man should be recognised as a refugee.
However, the higher court in Münster on Monday, July 22nd, said the man didn’t face political persecution in Syria and his previous offenses barred him from being given refugee or other protected status.
“The higher administrative court of North Rhine-Westphalia is the first high-ranking court to decide differently” in the case of Syrians being granted protected status, asylum expert Daniel Thym told the daily Bild, adding that the ruling could impact other decisions. “The decisive question is whether the other courts and authorities will follow suit,” the expert said.
However, the government has banned deportations to Syria exactly on the grounds of the country not being safe enough for civilians. Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said Tuesday the court verdict was “a decision that one can understand, if one assumes that there are now regions in this country that are very dangerous but also other areas where there isn’t necessarily a danger to life.”
There are close to one million Syrians living in Germany. Most of them fled the Syrian civil war that began in 2011. Syrians have been the largest group of asylum seekers in Germany: in 2024, around 38,000 Syrians applied for asylum, followed by 20,000 Afghans in second place.
