Greece Moves to Revoke Asylum Status in 20 Syrian Cases

Greece’s Ministry of Migration and Asylum is reviewing cases in which, according to ministry sources, the legal conditions for maintaining international protection status no longer apply.

The ministry said it has reviewed a number of cases since the beginning of the year and revoked asylum status, particularly in cases involving Syrian citizens whom it considers no longer eligible for international protection.

According to ministry sources, Migration and Asylum Minister Thanos Plevris instructed the ministry’s legal services to challenge 20 decisions by the Independent Appeals Committees of the Appeals Authority that had overturned the revocation of asylum status for Syrian citizens.

The committees cited, among other factors, Syria’s difficult economic conditions and the possibility of compulsory military service if the applicants returned to the country, according to the same sources.

Ministry sources argue that the decisions contain legal shortcomings. They also point out that some of the cases involved Syrian citizens whose applications the committees accepted, meaning their international protection status remained in place.

The ministry maintains that some of these individuals have final convictions for migrant smuggling, theft and drug trafficking.

According to the same sources, the ministry intends to exhaust all available legal remedies in the cases. Its stated aim is to remove protection status where it considers that the legal conditions no longer apply and to return the individuals concerned to their countries of origin.

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