Regarding Bulgaria’s Detention of Syrian Refugees
The Syrian Future Movement condemns the Bulgarian state’s detention of nearly eighty Syrians, including 8 children, in harsh conditions.
The Syrian Future Movement condemns the forced choice given to Syrians: either one and a half years in prison on charges of threatening Bulgarian national security, or signing a deportation order back to Syria.
The Syrian Future Movement demands that the Bulgarian government stop the exploitation of Syrian refugees by camp guards, who are forced to pay large sums for small amounts of food.
The Syrian Future Movement considers these practices a blatant violation of international human rights law and inconsistent with the principles of international protection for refugees and asylum seekers.
The Syrian Future Movement considers the deportation of refugees to be in violation of the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits returning any person to a country where they are at risk of torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, or the threat of such acts.
The Syrian Future Movement calls on the Bulgarian state to respect the right to asylum, as guaranteed by the 1951 Refugee Convention, which ensures the right to seek asylum and receive protection from persecution.
The Syrian Future Movement considers what is happening to the detained Syrians in Bulgaria to be a violation of their basic human rights, including the right to life, liberty, personal security, and freedom from torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
The Syrian Future Movement calls on the international community and human rights organizations to:
Pressure Bulgarian authorities to immediately stop the forced deportation of detained Syrians.
Provide adequate international protection for all Syrian asylum seekers in Bulgaria.
Open a transparent and independent investigation into all violations committed against detained Syrians.
Hold those responsible for these violations accountable and bring them to justice.
The Syrian Future Movement affirms that deporting Syrian refugees to the Assad regime means sending them back to the risk of death, torture, and imprisonment, which is unacceptable in any form, especially since they are opponents of the Syrian regime, fleeing its brutality and injustice.
