The UK Foreign Office, via its Twitter account, reported that the British Interior Ministry has confirmed that Syria is not currently safe for the return of refugees.
“In the current circumstances, we are not sending anyone back to Syria,” the office tweeted. The British government agrees with the UN’s assessment that Syria is unsafe.”
British Special Envoy to Syria, Jonathan Hargreaves, commented on the British Home Office report: “My country’s position has not changed that Syria is not currently safe for the return of refugees, and we will not return anyone to Syria.”
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This comes after the British newspaper The Guardian reported, a few days ago, that it had seen a letter of rejection sent from the British Interior Ministry to a Syrian asylum seeker in response to his asylum application, on the pretext that he could return safely to his country.
An interior ministry official said in the letter that he was not convinced that the 25-year-old might have a justified fear of persecution if he returned to Syria.
In return, the young man’s lawyer appealed the interior ministry’s decision, which is the first case of Syrian asylum rejection in the country, the newspaper said.
Refugee Action appealed to British Home Secretary, Priti Patel, to overturn the decision.
A Human Rights Watch report stressed, last October, that refugees should not be returned to Syria.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
