Meet Emad and Amal: a Syrian couple in limbo, waiting for their nieces’ asylum decisions

To illustrate the kafkaesque administrative nightmare faced by migrants navigating Greece’s asylum procedures, let’s talk about the current situation of Syrian asylum seekers and refugees. 

Amal and Emad (names and identifying details changed) are the aunt and uncle of two minor children who got stuck on Lesvos due to the indefinite suspension of asylum decisions for Syrians. 

Following the fall of the Al-Assad regime, asylum services across the EU, including in Greece, suspended all pending asylum applications for Syrian nationals. While Syrians continue to be interviewed by the Greek Asylum Service, no decisions are being issued until further notice. This has left many trapped on Lesvos’ Closed Controlled Access Centre (CCAC) for an unknown duration. The arbitrary nature of this decision has led to frustrating inconsistencies: people who made the journey together from Syria and arrived to Greece in the same boat, have now found themselves separated: some granted refugee status because they received their decisions before Assad’s fall, while others, due to arbitrary delays, are still waiting for decisions, and now fear rejection. This arbitrary and unfair process has already led to two protests in Lesvos’ CCAC in the last months. 

The absurdity of this situation is especially evident in cases where family members receive different legal recognition. One such case is that of Emad and his wife Amal. They arrived on Lesvos at the end of October, about a month before the fall of Al-Assad. As with many other Syrians at that time, Emad and Amal were granted asylum shortly after arriving, as recognition of refugee status for Syrians was quick during that period. Before they had arrived in Greece, they had been caring for their two minor nieces, after the death of the children’s parents. Unfortunately, during the journey to Greece, the two children were separated from their only guardians, and arrived on Chios island. After a few weeks, they were able to reunite in Lesvos with Emad and Amal, however, due to delays in the procedure to be granted custody in Greek court, the two children were given separate asylum case numbers, meaning that when Emad and Amal were granted asylum, it was not automatically extended to their nieces. Instead, the two children would have to go through their own procedure. 

In the meantime, with Al-Assad’s fall, all Syrian asylum decisions were frozen. Emad and Amal’s two nieces are now stuck on Lesvos indefinitely, together with their aunt and uncle. As if that was not enough, due to the CCAC policy to end the distribution of food 30 days after granting asylum, Emad and Amal have been cut off from essential government provided services.

The asylum system is notoriously slow, particularly when responding to political shifts in countries of origin that necessitate updated assessment of asylum seekers’ claims. One example is the situation of Afghan asylum seekers following the takeover by the Taliban regime. Unlike here, the impact of the takeover on Afghan people and their rights was pretty clear from the outset, yet it took over a year for asylum services to take this new reality into account and grant asylum to nearly all Afghans. However, when a geopolitical shift happens that could potentially lead to excluding more people from receiving international protection, EU governments have shown themselves all too quick to act.

Across Europe, the current debates are focused not on if countries can start deportations to Syria but on when. Even the UNHCR has made a call for global action to “support Syrians returning home”. Nevertheless, evidence is ample that the situation in Syria remains unsafe. Over the past week, violence has broken out once more, resulting in the killing of  at least 1,000 people, including 745 civilians. In the north Turkey continues to bomb civilian areas of the Kurdish regions. In the south Israel is carrying out air strikes. And all over the country, LCL clients have reported to us that their family members and contacts in Syria warn them that even after the fall of Assad warlords continue to attempt recruiting young men to join their militias, threatening them and their families to kill them if they refuse. In short, the situation in Syria is still extremely volatile, unsafe, and uncertain. Even with a new interim government the persecution of many Syrians will likely continue.

The EU Asylum Procedure Directive allows for delaying decisions in cases of uncertain situations in a country of origin only when this uncertainty is temporary. However, as outlined above, Syria’s situation is far from temporary. The blanket suspension of asylum decisions for Syrians is in violation of European law.

The actions of Greek authorities are showing once more the inhumane, discriminatory, and arbitrary treatment of migrants. This policy is trapping people like Emad, Amal, and their nieces in indefinite limbo on Lesvos. We demand that the Greek Asylum Service immediately resume processing Syrian asylum claims and grant international protection and freedom of movement to all those trapped on Lesvos island.