Transcript Slide 1

Europe’s role in the global refugee
protection system
Chris Nash
Legal Officer
What is ECRE?
• A pan-European network of 80 refugee-assisting nongovernmental organisations in 30 European countries
• Finnish Members:
– Finnish Red Cross
– Refugee Advice Centre
• Executive Committee consisting of representatives
from Member Agencies
• Offices in Brussels and London
ECRE’s Mission
The European Council on Refugees and Exiles
(ECRE) is concerned with the needs of all individuals
seeking refuge and protection within Europe. It
promotes the protection and integration of refugees
based on the values of human dignity, human rights
and an ethic of solidarity.
What does ECRE do?
• Capacity-building:
– ELENA: European Legal Network on
Asylum
– Eastern Europe
– South East Europe
• Information
• Policy analysis and advocacy
– ECRAN
SHARING RESPONSIBILITY
› Take the lead in promoting international solidarity
and co-operation
› Take a fairer share of the global responsibility
for protecting refugees
› Better share their responsibility
between themselves
An Agenda for Change
PROTECTION IN REGION OF
ORIGIN
› Strengthen protection in regions of origin
› Put human rights standards at the forefront of
improving protection
› Improve protection in Europe
as well as in other regions
An Agenda for Change
RESETTLEMENT
› Offer a long-term future to refugees
through resettlement
› Start a national resettlement programme
and expand existing schemes
› Establish a Europe-wide resettlement programme
led by the European Union
› Develop resettlement as a complement
rather than a substitute for existing asylum
systems
An Agenda for Change
ACCESS TO EUROPE
› Adapt border management
to ensure access to Europe for refugees
› Create legal channels
to enable refugees to travel to Europe
An Agenda for Change
ASYLUM SYSTEMS
› Give every asylum seeker a fair hearing
› Invest in better decisions
early in the asylum procedure
› Monitor decision-makers
to ensure refugees receive protection
› Share the best practice, not the worst
An Agenda for Change
INTEGRATION
› Welcome refugees
› Celebrate cultural diversity
› Afford refugees similar rights to nationals
› Enable refugees to improve
or adapt their skills from day one
An Agenda for Change
RETURN
› Ensure return is safe, dignified and sustainable
› Prioritise voluntary return
over mandatory or forced return
› Only return people after a fair & thorough
examination of their asylum claim
› Grant status & rights to asylum seekers whose
claims have been rejected but who cannot return
› Monitor returns systematically
An Agenda for Change
A Common European Asylum
System – fundamental objectives?
CEAS
1) Achieving a level playing field for all
asylum seekers entering the EU
1) Securing genuine burden sharing
among EU Member States by
reforming Dublin II
An Agenda for Change
CEAS
The rationale of harmonisation
• Common solution to asylum management in
an EU without internal borders
• The Tampere goal of a Common European
Asylum System (CEAS)
• First phase minimum standards instruments
(Temporary Protection, Reception,
Qualification and Procedures Directives)
An Agenda for Change
CEAS
The reality of harmonisation
• Difficult negotiations – lowest common
denominator approach
• Huge differences in quality and capacity of
asylum systems across EU
• Varying recognition rates
• Unfair burdens – Dublin
An Agenda for Change
CEAS
The Hague Programme
• "Practical and collaborative
cooperation" among Member States
• Develop "appropriate structures" to
coordinate leading to European
Support Office
• Reiterating goal of completing CEAS
by 2010
An Agenda for Change
Communication on Strengthened
Practical Cooperation
• Single Procedure
CEAS
• Country of Origin Information (COI)
• Particular Pressures
• Asylum Cooperation Network
An Agenda for Change
CEAS
ECRE’s Proposals
• ECRE Way Forward paper "Towards Fair &
Efficient Asylum Systems in Europe" (Sept
2005)
• Staffing, training, COI, expert support teams,
quality assessment mechanisms, EU
support office
• Welcome frontloading and involving
independent experts
• Concerns - transparency and accountability
• Importance of independent quality
monitoring?
An Agenda for Change
COI – next steps?
CEAS
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Legal & political imperatives - Art 4 Qualification Directive &
Art 7 Procedures Directive
"Accurate, reliable and transparent" COI
Common portal (limitations?)
Common Guidelines (see UNHCR 2004 position)
EU COI database
Need to go further? - added value of EU Documentation
Centre (more resource-effective, avoids duplication, and
increases efficiency)
Scope for Q&A panel/team of independent COI experts
(REFINFO of Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board)
Role of training (ACCORD COI Training Project)
Role of monitoring (COI Monitoring Initiative in Central
Europe)
An Agenda for Change
CEAS
Other areas of practical
cooperation to improve RSD?
• Sharing best practice guidelines (e.g. on treatment of
unaccompanied minors)
• Training and accreditation of decision-makers (e.g. on
interview technique, working with interpreters, vulnerable
groups, assessing credibility, international refugee law etc)
• Quality monitoring (UNHCR's UK Quality Initiative)
• Project-led delivery of Hague Programme objectives
through ARGO or ERF (e.g. ARGO project to develop a
European Asylum Curriculum (EAC) - reference group/role
of independent experts)
An Agenda for Change
DUBLIN
The Dublin II Regulation
• Legal basis under Art 63 EC Treaty
• Replaced the Dublin Convention and entered into
force on 17 March 2003 with its provisions
becoming binding 6 months later in September
2003
• Binding on all EU MS and additionally Norway
and Iceland. Switzerland is in process of joining.
• Determines which Member State (MS) is
responsible for examining an asylum application
lodged by a third country national
An Agenda for Change
DUBLIN
Why change it?
• 0.3% recognition rate in Greece, nearly 50% in
Austria
• Take the plight of Chechens – varying recognition
rates and lack of psychiatric care facilities in
Central Europe
• Consider the human cost
• Does it make sense? Germany: 30% Dublin cases
– take back as many as transfer under Dublin?!
An Agenda for Change
DUBLIN
ECRE Report on Dublin II
• Individuals denied access to an asylum procedure
and placed at risk of refoulement
• Increased detention to enforce Dublin transfers
• Splits families & prevents people joining relatives
• Harsh impact on separated children
• Lack of reception conditions e.g. for torture
survivors
• Lack of information to applicants
• Inconsistent, inefficient & resource intensive
An Agenda for Change
DUBLIN
ECRE’s Call to VP Frattini
• Guarantee access to a full and fair procedure for
all Dublin cases
• Better ensure family unification
• Exempt separated children from Dublin II
• Ensure adequate reception conditions and
restrict use of detention
• Start the debate on need for fundamental reform
An Agenda for Change
DUBLIN
Fundamental flaws requiring
more intrinsic reform
• Lack of harmonisation and inequality of
protection across EU – encourages secondary
movement
• Creates unfair burdens on states bordering EU
and is in conflict with Art 63(2)(b) of the
Amsterdam Treaty
• Prompts further restrictive controls on external
borders (witness Ceuta/Melilla, Canaries etc)
An Agenda for Change
DUBLIN
Replacing Dublin altogether
• ECRE’s alternative system for determining
which state is responsible for deciding a
claim
• Supported by the creation of meaningful
financial burden-sharing instruments
• Free movement for recognised refugees
An Agenda for Change
Concluding Comments
• Reviving the spirit of Tampere
• EU should share best practice not worst laws
• Frontloading – better asylum management by
creating fairer and more efficient procedures
• Access to protection
• Responsibility sharing and setting an example in
the global context
An Agenda for Change
Shared goals?
• Working towards increased cooperation
between states, intergovernmental and nongovernmental organisations
An Agenda for Change
www.ecre.org
Brussels office
London office
205 rue Belliard, Box 14
1040 Brussels
Belgium
Telephone: +32 (0) 2 514 5939
Fax :
+32 (0) 2 514 5922
E-mail:
[email protected]
103 Worship Street
London EC2A 2DF
United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7377 7556
Fax:
+44 (0) 20 7377 7586
E-mail:
[email protected]