A violent conflict erupted between the Syrian army, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and armed militias in Rojava, Syria. 3.150 kilometres away, asylum seekers with Syrian nationality are left in administrative anxiety in Luxembourg, as the government reevaluates safety in the West-Asian country. Lëtzebuerger Journal talked to Kurdish asylum applicants.
After around three years, Roj (name changed by the editors) is still waiting for Luxembourgish authorities to assess his application for protection. During our interview, he speaks of his slow-burning, disheartening suffering. Several years ago, Roj and his family fled their home in Rojava, Syria, in fear of him being forced to fight for the former al-Assad regime – a regime known for its crimes against humanity and persecution of Kurds.
While his own children and wife did not accompany him all the way to Luxembourg and remain abroad outside of Syria, they financially rely on him. After a long perilous journey to the Grand Duchy, he now is stuck waiting in Luxembourg for the past years, living in severe poverty, without knowing when things will finally change. Besides vouchers for limited necessities and provided accommodation in a refugee shelter, he gets under 80 euros from the government per month. Roj regrets, "I used to get humiliated and discriminated against, but then I would go home to my family. I experience the same in Luxembourg, but I don’t go back home, I go to a refugee camp without my children and my wife". Three years without seeing his child "feels like a crime, like a punishment" to him.
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