When Rawan Bertawi, a 22-year-old Syrian refugee living in Denmark, reported his transfer to the warehouse of a cosmetics company one day in mid-December, he found his card was not working. He felt something was wrong.
Her bewildered manager summoned her to her office and showed her an e-mail she had just received from the Danish immigration service: her refugee status — along with her right to work — had been revoked and she would have to leave. the country.
Ms Bertawi and her family are among dozens of Syrian refugees deprived of residence visas by Denmark and said they would return to their war-torn country because the Danish government considers Damascus (where they had previously been) safe. Human rights groups reject the claim that any part of Syria is safe for returnees.
But since Denmark severed formal diplomatic relations with Syria near the start of the civil war a decade ago, it cannot deport Syrians. Instead, it places those who no longer have legal status in deportation camps, a policy that according to aid groups is aimed at pressuring Syrians to return to Syria voluntarily.
“This is ruining human lives,” said Ms Bertawi, who went to Denmark in 2015 when she was 15 years old. are we told we are going? “