Asylum: a single procedure with higher standards of protection

18 Mar 2011 08:36 AM

Plans for an accessible, fair and effective asylum procedure throughout the EU enabling Member States to distinguish faster between asylum seekers and other migrants were amended by the Civil Liberties Committee on Wednesday to make them fairer to asylum applicants, inter alia by adding safeguards for minors and especially vulnerable people, and ensuring that Member States comply with the "non-refoulement" principle.

The 2005 "asylum procedures" Directive is to be recast (revised) to allow the introduction of a single EU-wide procedure for granting and withdrawing international protection, including common safeguards for asylum seekers.

"A fundamental revision of the procedures directive is absolutely vital, so as to provide an accessible, fair and effective procedure, as much in the interests of asylum seekers as in those of the Member States", underlined Sylvie Guillaume (S&D, FR), who is steering this legislation thought Parliament.

Procedures that are "badly used and badly set up" are costly, she said in the committee debate, pointing out to Member States that the proposed rules should help to better indentify abuses at first instance and also reduce costs.

The committee's amendments aim to introduce greater fairness, improve the mutual consistency of EU asylum instruments, simplify, streamline and consolidate procedural arrangements across the EU and ensure more robust determinations of status at first instance ("frontloading"), thus preventing abuse and making the asylum process more efficient.

First instance decisions should be made faster – within six months – and their quality should also be improved, MEPs say, with more emphasis on procedural safeguards for the especially vulnerable, such as victims of torture, rape or other serious acts of violence, unaccompanied minors, pregnant women, etc.

Improved efficiency and quality of procedures should enable Member States to distinguish faster between asylum seekers and other migrants in mixed arrivals. It should also help to limit secondary movements of asylum seekers amongst Member States, at least to the extent that such movements are prompted by differing national procedural arrangements, note MEPs.

Easier access to procedures
The proposal provides for certain guarantees to enhance access to asylum procedures. For instance, the revised proposal explicitly includes territorial waters in the scope of the directive and specifies the obligations of border guards, police and detention facility personnel.

Access to information on the procedures to follow when applying for international protection and access to organisations (such as NGOs) providing legal advice and counselling to asylum seekers should also be provided at border crossing points and detention facilities, say MEPs.

One committee amendment reiterates that Member States must respect the "non-refoulement" principle in full and also the right to asylum, which includes access to an asylum procedure for any person in their jurisdiction who wishes to claim asylum, "including those under the effective control of an EU or Member State body".

Guarantees for asylum applicants
A personal interview and the right to procedural and legal advice, legal assistance and representation should be guaranteed to asylum seekers. These and other procedural guarantees inserted in the directive, such as the right to an effective remedy, are based on the legal principles stemming from the case law of the European Court of Justice and the European Court on Human Rights.

Applicants must be allowed to remain in the Member State, for the sole purpose of the procedure, until the national authority has made a final decision, including in cases where an applicant lodges an appeal, and for as long as a competent court or tribunal so authorises, say MEPs.

The committee also clarifies the concept of "safe third countries" and backs the idea that a common list of safe third countries is to be adopted and amended by Parliament and Council under the co-decision procedure.

The draft law also revises key procedural concepts such as inadmissibility grounds, accelerated procedures and manifestly unfounded applications.

Support for Member States
In Member States that accept a "disproportionately large number of asylum applications" in relation to the size of their population, financial support and administrative/technical support must be mobilised immediately under the European Refugee Fund (ERF) and the European Asylum Support Office (EASO), respectively in order to enable them to comply with this directive, MEPs stressed.

Next steps
The rapporteur reminded Member States of their commitment to implementing a Common European Asylum System by 2012 and the urgent need to put a stop to the "asylum lottery".

The European Commission announced that it would present a revised version of this proposal in the coming months. The amendments adopted by the Civil Liberties Committee seek to contribute to that revision.

Procedure: co-decision, first reading

Committee vote: 28 in favour, 22 against

Plenary vote: May 2011 (tbc)

In the chair: Juan Fernando López Aguilar (S&D, ES)

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