Rights group Amnesty International is urging European countries to reverse their pauses on asylum applications for Syrians following the fall of the Assad regime.
Thousands of claimants have been affected by the policy shift this week from multiple nations, including Germany and Austria, which comes amid a resurgence of right-wing parties keen to restrict immigration in Europe – where more than a million Syrians live.
“In line with international law and standards on refugee protection, asylum claims must be processed promptly and effectively. European countries must also continue to consider the individual circumstances of each asylum seeker on a case-by-case basis.”
The United Kingdom has “temporarily paused decisions” on asylum claims from Syrian nationals, the UK Home Office confirmed to CNN on Monday. Earlier, the interior ministers of Germany and Austria both said they would pause asylum applications for Syrians. Austria also said it was starting to look at deporting people to Syria.
