News

The Dutch Council for Refugees reports that it has been revealed that Chinese informants working as interpreters in asylum cases were passing on information regarding Uyghuri applications for asylum in the Netherlands. Seeking asylum is treated as an act of treason by the Chinese Government, which places returned Uyghurs in danger if suspected of applying for asylum

More information is available at the DCR's website.

The applicant is an Ethiopian national who claimed asylum in Sweden in 2007 on the ground that he had been beaten, imprisoned and tortured after criticising the 2005 elections in his country. His asylum claim was rejected by the authorities who found that he had failed to prove any future risk of ill-treatment if he were sent back to Ethiopia. The applicant argued that his removal to Ethiopia would put him at risk of death or treatment contrary to Article 3.

UNHCR recommends that Dublin participating States refrain from transferring asylum seekers under the Dublin Regulation to Hungary, in cases where those asylum seekers have or may have been in Serbia prior to entering Hungary. In a note published this week, UNHCR highlights that Hungary considers Serbia to be a ‘safe third country’, and systematically returns asylum seekers who have transited through Serbia to that country without examination of their claims on the merits.

The applicants are Iraqi nationals whose asylum claims were rejected by Sweden and who face deportation. Before the European Court of Human Rights, two of the applicants alleged that they would be at risk of being the victims of an honour-related crime due to their relationships with women that were disapproved of by their families. In the other six cases, the applicants alleged they would be at risk of persecution due to being Christians, which constitute a religious minority in the country.