Jonas is the last of the Danish children in Syria who has not received an offer from the government to return home to Denmark with his mother.
He has been detained in the al-Roj and al-Hoj detention camps since he was just under three years old, and with every passing day, the risk of him getting permanently injured – or dying – increases.
In the years Jonas has spent in detention camps, Jonas has developed chronic ear-nose-throat infections and shows signs of anxiety and depression as a result of his poor well-being.
He struggles with his breathing. His hearing is almost gone. He has shrapnel in his body from a bomb attack he survived at the age of three.
In May 2023, the Danish Health Authorities concluded that an evacuation of Jonas and his mother should proceed within a few weeks and no later than three months to ensure that Jonas receives the medical care and treatment he requires.
Nonetheless, the Danish government has decided not to evacuate Jonas and his mother from the al-Roj detention camp.
After persistent pressure from the public and years of delay, the Danish government has repatriated 18 of the Danish children and their mothers.
All that remains is for the government to let Jonas return home with his mother. He needs acute care.
When the government decided to evacuate 14 of the children and their mothers from the Syrian detention camps, five Danish children were left behind because their mothers had had their citizenship administratively revoked.
Only if the mothers agreed to be separated from them would the children be able to return to Denmark – alone.
As a result of this decision, RTC chose to cite the government on behalf of three of the children. According to several experts in the field, separating the children from their mothers would not only be harmful to the children, but it would also be against international conventions to do so.
Today, only Jonas is unable to come home with his mother. RTC will present the case to the High Court December 18th 2023.
In March 2023, the Danish Supreme Court ruled that withdrawing the citizenship from the mother of two of the Danish children in the al-Roj detention camp was illegal.
The government has since offered to evacuate the family, but so far, she has decided to stay in Syria with her children. She cannot comprehend the consequences for her two children when she gets taken into custody in Denmark.
In one of the other cases from October 2022, the Supreme Court ruled that the Ministry of Immigration and Integration’s decision to revoke a woman’s Danish citizenship by naturalization while she was detained in Syria was valid.
In May 2023, the Danish government reached a political compromise, which meant that she subsequently could return to Denmark with her two young children after almost five years of imprisonment in Syria.
Jonas' mother and aunt's case on citizenship has been appealed to the High Court.
As of October 2019, it has been possible for the Minister of Immigration and Integration to administratively strip away Danish citizenship from people with dual citizenship. The deprivation can occur if the minister reckons that the person has caused damage to the nation’s vital interests.
An administrative deprivation means it appears outside the courts and you are informed digitally of the removal. After the law was implemented, 12 people had their citizenship removed administratively. Seven of them have complained through lawsuits.
(SOURCE: UIM, ft.dk, DR Nyheder)
