Syrian refugees must buy travel papers — from Assad

LUXEMBOURG: When Mohammed Al-Khalaf escaped from Syria and won asylum in Luxembourg last year, his wife and children stayed behind in Raqqa, the hub of Daesh’s so- called Caliphate. Al-Khalaf applied for his family to join him, exercising a right to family life under European law.

But first, Luxembourg officials said, they must see the family’s passports and a document, certified by President Bashar Assad’s administration, to prove Al-Khalaf ‘s wife Ghufran did not have a criminal record.

For Al-Khalaf, it was a Catch-22. “They need paperwork from the regime which is a party in the problematic situation which we, in the first place, are fleeing from,” he said.

Such requirements are increasingly common. Six years into Syria’s war, tens of thousands of Syrian families trying to be reunited in Europe have seen requests stalled for want of documents that European governments need from the Assad regime.

Several families Reuters spoke to, including the Al-Khalafs, said that to get the paperwork required, they resorted to chains of bribery culminating in Damascus.

Under normal circumstances, every country requires those who seek entry to produce documents proving their identity. European officials today say they need the papers for security, and to curb people-smuggling. But refugees, especially those trapped in zones controlled by Daesh, cannot always obtain government papers.

In 2014, a report from the Red Cross and the European Council on Refugees and Exiles found that most European states require documentation that is hard for people from countries such as Syria to obtain. Since then, many countries have required more, not less, paperwork. States variously call for passports, birth and marriage certificates, proofs of guardianship, documents to prove people lived together, or fresh medical records. Some also expect legally certified translations.

In Germany, which has received more Syrian asylum-seekers than any other European country, around 26,000 Syrian applications for family reunifications are not ready for a decision because of missing documents, Berlin says. A German court in December said Assad’s cash-strapped regime is probably benefiting from the documentary requirements.

“Family reunification is a human right,” said Ska Keller, copresident of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament. “It pushes refugees into the hands of smugglers and on dangerous routes if member states curb their possibility to join their parents or children.”

Since the start of 2015, at least 89,000 Syrian family members have reached Germany, Sweden, Austria, Luxembourg and Belgium under rules that allow someone who has been given asylum to bring in spouses and young children. There is no solid data on how many asylum-seekers still want to be reunified in Europe, but increasingly, Syrians are given “subsidiary protection” rather than refugee status. This often limits or eliminates their right to bring in family.

Even those who are eligible often have problems getting papers. This is what Al-Kalaf found.

Luxembourg asked for the Al-Khalafs’ exact family link to be proven, and a certified copy of a travel document, as well as a criminal record excerpt for Mohammed’s wife.

While Khalaf was trying to get his wife out of Raqqa, Daesh officials there arrested her for lifting the hem of her dress on a wet sidewalk. Then they beat her for wearing perfume. He managed to get the family smuggled out through Turkey.