On 30 November and 1 December, EASO organised a meeting for the members of EASO’s Syria COI specialists network. These are specialists and researchers who focus on Syria and the region. It was attended by COI research specialists from 20 EU+1 countries.
The purpose of the meeting was to facilitate discussions among participants on key issues in Syria relevant to COI researchers, to update each other on recent information needs and new national products, and to discuss future joint activities. Norway and Sweden discussed recent fact-finding missions. External experts and organisations gave presentations on recent developments and specific topics requested.
This meeting report presents information from the external expert presentations and ‘question and answer’ sessions.
The external speakers invited to give presentations were:
Christopher Kozak, is a Senior Research Analyst at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) where he focuses on Syria with an emphasis on the Assad Regime and Iran in the Syrian Civil War. He is the author of An Army in All Corners: Assad’s Campaign Strategy in Syria and has published numerous articles on various actors in the Syrian Civil War, including ISIS, Syrian Kurds, and pro-regime foreign fighters. He has also been invited to provide briefings to political leaders, military officers, and intelligence officials from the U.S. as well as foreign allies.
Dr. Esther van Eijk, an affiliated researcher at Maastricht University who specialises in (religious) family law, particularly in Syria. She has researched and published extensively on Syrian family law issues, including completing ethnographic field research in Syria. She is the author of Family Law in Syria: Patriarchy, Pluralism and Personal Status Laws, published by I.B. Tarusi in 2016.
Dr. Fabrice Balanche, an associate professor and research director at the University of Lyon 2 and a Visiting Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. He forcuses on political geography of conflict and development in the Middle East and Syria. His work has focused on analysing the evolution of the Syrian conflict through the study of territory and political power. His publications include Geopolitics of the Middle East (2014, in French), Atlas of the Near East (2012, in English, French, and Arabic), the book version of his thesis, The Alawite Region and Syrian Power (2006, in French), and many articles on Syria and Middle East. His latest book, Sectarianism in the Syrian Civil War (in English), was published in February 2018.
UNHCR, UNHCR gave a presentation on new protection considerations for Syria.
Politique de traitement
La politique définie par le commissaire général se fonde sur une analyse approfondie d’informations récentes et détaillées sur la situation générale dans le pays. Ces informations ont été recueillies de manière professionnelle auprès de diverses sources objectives, dont le Bureau européen d’appui en matière d’asile, le Haut-Commissariat aux réfugiés des Nations unies, des organisations internationales de défense des droits de l’homme, des organisations non gouvernementales, ainsi que la littérature spécialisée et les médias. Pour définir sa politique, le commissaire général ne se fonde donc pas exclusivement sur les COI Focus publiés sur le site du CGRA, qui ne traitent que de certains aspects particuliers de la situation du pays. Le fait qu’un COI Focus date d’un certain temps déjà ne signifie donc pas que la politique menée par le commissaire général ne soit plus d’actualité.
Pour examiner une demande d’asile, le commissaire général tient non seulement compte de la situation objective dans le pays d’origine à la date de la décision mais également de la situation individuelle et des circonstances personnelles du demandeur. Chaque demande d’asile est examinée au cas par cas. Le demandeur d’asile doit montrer de manière suffisamment concrète qu’il éprouve une crainte fondée de persécution ou court un risque réel d’atteintes graves. Il ne peut donc se contenter de renvoyer à la situation générale dans son pays mais doit également présenter des faits concrets et crédibles le concernant personnellement.
Pour ce pays, il n’y a pas une note de politique de traitement disponible sur le site web.