VG Cologne: Asylum for Syrian Christians
In its ruling of 20 February 2014 – case no. 20 K 2258/13.A – the 20th Chamber of the Administrative Court of Cologne recognized Syrian refugees who are of Christian religious affiliation (Christians) as persons entitled to asylum. The ruling is not yet legally binding.
Facts:
(Asylum)
The plaintiffs, a Christian couple from Syria, entered Germany on August 23, 2012 with a valid visa by air from Istanbul to Cologne/Bonn and applied for asylum on October 31, 2012.
At the personal hearing before the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (hereinafter: Federal Office) on February 18, 2013, the applicant stated that the situation in Syria was difficult enough anyway. In addition, he had received a phone call at the beginning of July 2012 in which he had been blackmailed into paying one million Syrian lira within a week to support the liberation struggle. Otherwise he would be killed. He and his wife lay awake all night and were very worried. Within two or three days, they first went to Aleppo to see their daughter. With the help of their sons, who lived in Germany, they then managed to obtain a visa for Germany.
In general, Christians in Syria are being disregarded and insulted in the current situation. The Salafists and Al Nasra, formerly Al Qaeda, treated them very badly. The graves of the Christians had already been desecrated with inscriptions and destruction. The applicant also pointed out the poor situation of the Christians during her hearing.
– Rejection notice –
(Asylum)
In a decision dated 12.03.2013, the Federal Office rejected the applicants’ asylum applications and determined that the requirements for granting refugee status were not met. At the same time, it was determined that the ban on deportation under Section 60 (2) AufenthG applies with regard to Syria. The decision was sent by registered mail on March 20, 2103.
On April 2, 2013, the applicants filed the present complaint. To substantiate their claim, they expand on the information they provided during the personal interview with the Federal Office and refer in particular to the persecution of Christians in Syria. The plaintiff was a teacher at the university of applied sciences until his retirement in 2005. The claimant was most recently the principal of a school until she took early retirement at her own request in 2012 due to the constant dangers of fighting and attacks on the way to school and home. Both plaintiffs had been volunteer teachers at a Christian school in Idlib and members of a cultural center there as well as members of a local council of a Christian church. Opposition members had taken power in Idlib and there was no protection from persecution for Christians there.
The plaintiffs request that the defendant be obliged to recognize the plaintiffs as persons entitled to asylum and to grant the plaintiffs refugee status, revoking points 1 and 2 of the decision of 12 March 2013.
The defendant requested that the action be dismissed.
(…)
Reasons for the decision:
(Asylum for Syrian Christians)
The action is admissible and well-founded.
The claimants are entitled to be granted refugee status. Section 2 of the defendant’s decision of March 12, 2013 is unlawful in this respect and violates the plaintiffs’ own rights (Section 113 (5) sentence 1 VwGO).
According to Section 3 Asylum Procedure Act as amended on 28.08.2013 (Federal Law Gazette of 28.08.2013), a foreigner is a refugee within the meaning of the Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees of July 28, 1951 – Geneva Refugee Convention (GRC) – if he or she
1.) for well-founded fear of persecution on account of his or her race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group
2.) is located outside the country
(a) whose nationality he possesses and whose protection he is unable or, owing to such fear, unwilling to avail himself of; or
b) in which he had his previous habitual residence as a stateless person and to which he cannot return or does not wish to return because of this fear.
Further details on the concept of persecution, the relevant grounds for persecution and the eligible persecution or protection actors are now regulated in Sections 3a-d Asylum Procedure Act in implementation of Council Directive 2011/95EU of 13 December 2011 on standards for the qualification of third-country nationals or stateless persons as beneficiaries of international protection, for a uniform status for refugees or for persons eligible for subsidiary protection, and for the content of the protection granted
(OJ L 337, 20.12.2011, p. 9-26).
Measured against these criteria, the requirements of Section 3 Asylum Procedure Act are met with regard to the applicants.
It is not necessary to decide whether the plaintiffs left Syria in advance. However, the court believes the plaintiffs when they claim that they were blackmailed under death threats to pay 1 million Syrian lira for the “liberation struggle” and decided to leave Syria out of fear. However, whether the plaintiffs were no longer able to claim the protection of the Syrian state before leaving the country in August 2012 due to this threat may require further clarification. However, this can be omitted in the present case, as the court is also independently convinced that the plaintiffs’ fear of persecution in the event of a return is well-founded, taking into account the current political situation in Syria and the application for asylum, as well as the many years of residence in western countries of close relatives and their own long residence in western countries.
Taking into account the aggravated political situation in Syria, it has long been the constant decision-making practice of the defendant that returnees have to expect mandatory questioning by Syrian security forces in the event of deportation to Syria, among other things to obtain general information about the exile scene, and that it can be assumed that this questioning alone is very likely to trigger a concrete threat in the form of treatment contrary to human rights, including torture.
See also: OVG NRW, judgment of February 14, 2012, 14 A 2708/10.A – Juris: Bundesamt für Migration u. Flüchtlinge, Syrien – Asylrelevante Informationen, Rückübernahmeabkommen, Indentitätspapiere, Asyl-Link-Minded-Group und aktuelle Situation, April 2011.
This assessment also underlies the granting of protection against deportation pursuant to Section 60 (2) Residence Act to the applicants by the decision that is – in part – still in dispute here.
There are no indications that this assessment has changed. On the contrary, in the course of the ongoing escalation of the political conflicts in Syria since March 2011, it can be assumed that the threat situation has continued to worsen considerably and that the Syrian state now generally regards illegal departure, residence in Western countries and asylum applications as an expression of dissident convictions.
see most recently, inter alia, OVG Saxony-Anhalt, judgment of 18.07.2012 – 3L 147/12
The court is therefore convinced that the applicants’ vulnerability is in any case also linked to a presumed political conviction and thus to one of the Convention characteristics, so that the conditions for granting refugee status are met.
cf. in this regard, inter alia: VGH BW, decisions of October 29, 2013 – A 11 S 2046/13 – and of June 19, 2013 – A 11 S 927/13 -; also OVG NRW, decision of February 14, 2012 – 14 A 2708/10.A – and decisions of May 7, 2013 – 14 A 1008/13.A – and of June 27, 2013 – 14 A 1517/13.A -.
At the relevant time of the present decision, the court is also convinced that the applicants would now be exposed to persecution by non-state actors in connection with their Christian religious affiliation in the event of their return, without being able to obtain protection from this (Section 3 d Asylum Procedure Act).
As the violent conflict in Syria escalates, minorities, including Christians, are increasingly caught between the fronts and are exposed to numerous attacks in the form of assassinations, kidnappings and expulsions. In addition to political motives, according to which Christians are targeted by the insurgents as supposed supporters of the Assad regime, the persecution measures are also based on religious motives.
Cf. Information Center Asylum and Migration, Syria, Current Situation of Christians, June 2013; instead of many newspaper reports: Frankfurter Allgemeine, “Weihnacht ohne Hoffnung”, 23.12.2013.
According to the UNHCR, Christians are now among the most vulnerable groups,
see UNHCR, International Protection Considerations with regard to people fleeing the Syrian Arab Republic, Update II, October 2013
This general threat to Christians had already materialized in relation to the plaintiffs before their departure, as they were to be forced to financially support insurgents under death threats. The claimants were also particularly exposed due to their many years of work on the local church council and in the local Christian school. The plaintiffs can no longer obtain protection from the Syrian regime against such attacks under the current conditions. On the one hand, the Syrian regime is fighting for its own survival with all means at its disposal and the Syrian state’s monopoly on the use of force is considerably restricted, at least regionally – also in relation to the region around Idlib and Aleppo. On the other hand, the applicants can no longer claim the protection of the Syrian state as a result of applying for asylum and fleeing to western countries, which has brought them into the sights of the security forces.
For the above reasons, point 1 of the contested decision also proves to be unlawful and the applicants are entitled to recognition as persons entitled to asylum in accordance with Article 16a of the Basic Law.
The decision on costs is based on Section 154 (1) VwGO, 83 b AsylVfG.
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