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  • New University of Michigan Guidelines on Exclusion of International Criminals

    Date: 
    Monday, October 21, 2013

    The new Michigan Guidelines on the Exclusion of International Criminals, resulting from a colloquium held in March 2013 at the University of Michigan, attempt to define the circumstances in which an international criminal can be excluded from protection by the Refugee Convention. Article 1(F)(a) of the Refugee Convention excludes from refugee status ‘... any person with respect to whom there are serious reasons for considering that...

  • Hungarian Helsinki Committee publishes Manual on Credibility Assessment in Asylum Procedures

    Date: 
    Monday, October 21, 2013

    The Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC), Member of ECRE and EDAL partner, has published a training manual on ‘Credibility Assessment in Asylum Procedures’ designed to meet the needs of asylum decision-makers and other asylum professionals. The manual aims at offering a creative and multidisciplinary learning method on credibility assessment. Credibility assessment is considered to be one of the most challenging aspects of asylum-decision making. The Manual is designed to address the fact that, in the EU, a significant proportion of asylum claims are rejected on credibility grounds.

  • Switzerland: Swiss Refugee Council publishes report reception conditions for asylum seekers and persons with international protection in Italy

    Date: 
    Monday, October 21, 2013

    The Report finds that 8 out of 10 (83.9% or 3,000/3,551) of Dublin transfers to Italy are issued by Switzerland. According to the Report, due to a comparatively limited reception capacity, only a minority of them are able to benefit from an ERF funded project, which provides 220 places to Dublin asylum seekers.

  • ECRE publishes Information Note on recast Qualification Directive

    Date: 
    Monday, October 21, 2013

    The Information Note, published on 7 October 2013, covers Directive 2011/95/EUof the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on standards for the qualification of third-country nationals or stateless persons as beneficiaries of international protection, for a uniform status for refugees or for persons eligible for subsidiary protection, and for the content of the protection granted (recast).

  • United Kingdom: Supreme Court clarifies circumstances in which deprivation of citizenship will render a person stateless

    Date: 
    Monday, October 21, 2013

    Secretary of State for the Home Department v Al-Jedda [2013] UKSC 62 (9 October 2013)concerns section 40(4) of the British Nationality Act 1981, under which the Secretary of State cannot deprive a person of British citizenship on the ground that it is conducive to public good if satisfied that it would make that person stateless. Mr Al-Jedda, originally an Iraqi national, lost his Iraqi citizenship when he acquired British citizenship in 2000. In 2004, he returned to Iraq and was detained by British forces for three years on suspicions of terrorism.

  • United Kingdom: Parliament's Home Affairs Select Committee Report criticises UK asylum system

    Date: 
    Monday, October 21, 2013

    The report, published on 11 October 2013, describes the UK asylum system as ‘under strain’ and ‘overburdened’, and questions the ‘wholly unacceptable’ number of applicants still waiting for an initial decision after six months, which rose by 63% in 2012. The quality of decision making is also a concern, according to the statistic that 30% of appeals against initial decisions were allowed in 2012. In what appear to be connected problems, the report condemns sub-standard housing provision and a lack of transparency and monitoring of private housing providers who receive public funding.

  • United Kingdom: UK Government publishes new Immigration Bill

    Date: 
    Monday, October 21, 2013

    The new Bill published on 10 October 2013 is designed, according to the Home Secretary, to create a ‘hostile environment for illegal migrants’. The Bill will require private landlords and banks to carry out checks on immigration status and gives more search and data recording powers to police and immigration officers. In addition, UK courts, when considering deportation appeals, must accord ‘little weight’ to the appellant’s family life established while their status was ‘precarious’ or unlawful.

  • Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) publishes third Annual Report

    Date: 
    Monday, October 21, 2013

    The report, published on 17 October 2013, covers the activities of the group from August 2012 to July 2013, and identifies 'five key priorities for the international fight against human trafficking': (1) Increasing the number of signatories to the anti-trafficking convention, to eliminate 'black spots'; (2) Widening focus on all different types of trafficking including 'trafficking for labour exploitation and organ removal, as well as for forced begging and other types of criminal activity'; (3) Developing the role of the private sector and the media, by preventing exploitation in the prod

  • EASO to Provide Support to Bulgaria

    Date: 
    Monday, October 21, 2013

    The Operating Plan for the period up to September 2014, signed by the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) and Bulgaria on 17 October 2013, will focus on: the identification and pre-registration of mixed migration flows; referral of vulnerable asylum seekers to appropriate procedures; support for the asylum decision-making process; updating Country of Origin information; delivering EASO training to new staff; providing advice on use of EU financial assistance. The Plan arises from an official request for support from Bulgaria, in light of the country's overburdened asylum system.

  • European Commission Memo on EU action in the fields of asylum and migration

    Date: 
    Monday, October 21, 2013

    The Memo sets out the EU's broad range of policies and instruments deployed in asylum and migration reception and security of external borders. Starting with surveillance and border control, the Memo summarises Frontex and the new EUROSUR system. The EU's 'Global Approach to Migration' is then described, with details of EU cooperation with countries of origin and the transit of migrants. Regarding the field of asylum, the Memo explains the Common European Asylum System (CEAS), the European Asylum Support Office (EASO), common principles for integration, and the Returns Directive.

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