Danish authorities have been accused of endangering the future of dozens of refugee children by threatening to deport them to Syria, despite warnings that such an action is unsafe. In a public statement, Save the Children said it was "extremely concerned" that it had found that at least 70 refugee children were at risk of being deported to Syria.
Denmark provoked strong reactions after plans were announced to lift the temporary protection of Syrian refugees from Damascus, the Syrian capital. The move came after a report last year in which the government said that "conditions in Damascus are no longer so serious as to have grounds for granting or extending residence permits."
As a result of the decision, hundreds of Syrian refugees from the region risk losing their residence permits, which will force them to return to a country that has been embroiled in conflict for the past decade.
"Children who are not responsible for the devastating conflict in Syria are victims of an adult-created crisis. Many of them have never known a peaceful Syria that has been mired in conflict for more than ten years now. said Anne Margrethe Rasmussen, Save the Children's representative for the Middle East and North Africa.
In a recent campaign, Save the Children spoke with more than 1,900 children and caregivers in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and the Netherlands and found that the vast majority of children said they did not see a future in Syria after ten years of conflict. .
Of those polled, 86% of Syrian refugee children in the above countries said they did not want to return to "their parents' country". Even among respondents within Syria, one in three said they would prefer to be elsewhere.
"Denmark was the first country to register the Refugee Convention in 1951. Now it is setting a dangerous precedent by taking the first step to send people back to a country that is not safe," said Sonia Khush. director of Save the Children in Syria.
Sources: Euronews, Financial Times
