Syrian Refugee Claimants -- In Canada, In Europe
"We don't face that flow [of numbers] in Canada. I don't know what rank they occupy in terms of source countries for asylum seekers, but it's pretty low.""The Immigration and refugee Board assesses and reassesses on a constant basis the reason for people to claim asylum, so that's something that I think we will monitor carefully."Canadian Immigration Minister Marc Miller"The end of Assad's tyranny is a great relief for many people who have suffered torture, murder and terror.""Many refugees who have found protection in Germany have renewed hope of returning to their Syrian homeland.""The situation in Syria is currently very confusing. Therefore, concrete possibilities for return cannot be predicted for return, cannot be predicted at the moment, and it would be dubious to speculate about this in such a volatile situation."German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser"As a first step, I would say we make an offer.""How about if the federal government says: Everyone who wants to return to Syria, we will charter planes for them and they will receive a starting fund of 1,000 euros."Jens Spahn, senior opposition politician conservative Christian Democrats, Germany
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| Vanig Garabedian and his family are pictured here being introduced to Ontario's then-premier Kathleen Wynne by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2015. They were among the first of thousands of government-sponsored Syrian refugees to arrive in Toronto. (CBC News) |
According to Canada's Immigration Minister Marc Miller, Canada will continue to evaluate asylum claims of people who fled Syria, irrespective of the end of the regime responsible for the civil war that led to the death of over 400,000 Syrians, the displacement of millions and six million Syrian refugees that fled Syria for haven abroad. Many Syrians who settled as refugees in other countries express a wish to return to their homes in Syria. Many more will be content to remain where they are. And many of those refugees have been responsible for criminal acts and wholly antisocial behaviour in the countries of the West that accepted them.
Canada has never been one of the more popular destinations for Syrians who fled Bashar al-Assad's regime, with at present 1,500 pending refugee claims. Even so, 100,000 Syrians have settled in Canada over the years of the current Liberal government in Canada, many encouraged by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's invitation for those mired in wars to consider Canada as a destination where they would be free to practise their religion and their culture would be respected. The trouble is that the recipients of this largess failed to respect the culture and values that welcomed them, while practising their own religion in extroverted exhibitionism.
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| People walk with belongings as they attempt to cross into Syria from Lebanon Reuters |
Now that Syria has been freed from the brutal reign of the Alawite Shiite regime that discriminated against the majority Sunni population of Syria, the future of the country is uncertain and volatile. The incoming government appears to reflect a type of Islamism reflective of that of the Taliban in Afghanistan, members of terrorist groups. On the surface in these early days deposing Assad, promises have been made that minority ethnic and religious groups would not be facing danger, despite reports to the contrary being circulated of atrocities committed against those groups.
Assad's reign was that of a murderous tyrant; yet there are no real prospects of the incoming victors, representing disparate interests will result in a great improvement in the lives of ordinary Syrians. Some of whom may want to leave, and with them surreptitiously, supporters of the former regime implicated in all the assaults the regime tasked them with from deadly chemical bombs to barrel bomb attacks against those Sunni Syrians opposing Bashar al-Assad's government.
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| Top rebel commander Abu Mohammed al-Golani greets the crowd at Ummayad Mosque in Damascus, after Syrian rebels announced that they have ousted President Bashar al-Assad, Syria December 8, 2024. REUTERS/Mahmoud Hassano |
With all of this in mind, a growing number of European countries -- Austria, Belgium, Britain, Greece, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Sweden and others -- announced they were suspending Syrian asylum claims for processing. The war-torn country that has for thirteen years seen its government attack its own population fell to a ten-day lightning onslaught of opposing forces, leading the Syrian President to flee when Damascus was seized. For the time being, Russia whose warplanes had bombed rebel areas' hospitals, school, shopping centres and cities, has offered asylum to the Syrian president.
Assad's former allies and supporters, from Iran to Hezbollah and Hamas, have been decimated by Israel in retaliation for their attacks on the Jewish State, leading to their withdrawal from Syria, while Russia with its strained, drained resources from its invasion of Ukraine has now lost its deep sea Tartus port and its inland airbase, withdrawing its troops and as much of its weaponry as it can manage. No word from the Arab League which only a year ago had welcomed Assad back into the fold, forgiving his slaughter of almost a half-million Syrian Sunnis.
Germany which had taken in the highest number of Syrian asylum seekers in all of Europe, experienced an anti-refugee backlash which has led to the freezing of 47,270 new applications for asylum. In Austria its Interior Minister Gerhard Karner declared that his ministry was in the process of a plan for "orderly repatriation and deportation to Syria". Sweden and Denmark experienced gangs recruiting children to commit murders; Europe is withdrawing its welcome mat. But not Canada.
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| The Al Mokdad family and their sponsors two days after arriving in Canada. The newcomer says with the support of their sponsors, his family was able to start a new life in Toronto. (Zakarai Al Mokdad) |
Labels: Canada, Europe, Opposition Forces, President Bashar al-Assad, Refugee Claimants, Regime Fall, Syria, Syrian Liberation
posted by Pieface @ Thursday, December 12, 2024
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