EDAL, launching a new feature of our website, has published a journal article (by Matthew Fraser, ECRE) covering the CJEU judgment in the joined cases of C-199/12, C-200/12 and C-201/12, X, Y and Z v Minister voor Immigratie en Asiel. The article argues that this judgment is carefully designed by the CJEU to address the questions it was asked, and not to reach beyond the confines of the specific circumstances of the case.
The Council of Europe Migration and Coordination Division hosted a conference on 21-22 November 2013 entitled ‘Immigration detention in Europe: Establishing common concerns and developing minimum standards’. The conference, which will ultimately lead to a report, was supplied with a useful compilation of Existing Standards on European Immigration Detention, which brings together legislation, jurisprudence, guidelines and other important authorities on detention of foreign nationals.
On 19 November 2013, the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) published a report concerning their visit to Italy in May 2012. The reportinter alia considers the detention conditions for foreign nationals detained under aliens legislation. The Report is broadly positive, praising the work of health care services and cultural mediators at Bologna Identification and Expulsion Centre.
This week EASO published a report on asylum applications from the Western Balkans, in which it examined factors influencing asylum applications from the Western Balkan region to EU Member States and Associated Countries. Included within the EASO-grouped category of ‘Western Balkans’ are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia. EASO identifies the transition from communism to democracy, revenge killings, societal problems faced by minority ethnic groups (e.g.
The Special Report, seeking the support of the European Parliament, arises because Frontex rejected one of the Ombudsman’s recommendations. The Ombudsman conducted an investigation into the compliance of Frontex with human rights obligations under Regulation 1168/2011/EU and the European Charter.
A reference for a preliminary ruling concerning Article 31 of the Geneva Convention was published by the CJEU on 15 November 2013. It was lodged on 9 September by the Oberlandesgericht Bamberg (Germany) and the questions read as follows:
(Asylum – Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union –Article 4 – Regulation (EC) No 343/2003 – Article 3(1) and (2) – Determination of the Member State responsible for examining an asylum application lodged in one of the Member States by a third-country national – Articles 6 to 12 – Criteria for determining the Member State responsible – Article 13 – Fall-back clause)
The Applicant is a national of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and former member of the Mouvement de Libération du Congo (MLC), for which he drew several political cartoons. Seeking asylum in France in 2008, he alleged that he was the subject of three weeks of detention in overcrowded conditions without sufficient sleep or food and no access to a lawyer or judicial authority, during which he was interrogated, whipped and burned with cigarettes.
The Applicant, from Guinea-Bissau, sought asylum in Belgium in 2009, and was detained in 2010 in a closed centre pending a Dublin transfer to Greece, through which the Applicant had transited. On his third request for release, following an original detention order and two extensions, the Court of Appeal ordered his immediate release. Despite this court order, an appeal by the authorities on points of law stayed the order for release. The Court of Appeal’s judgment was quashed on procedural grounds, and the case was remitted to the Indictments Chamber.
The Applicant is an Uzbek national whose current whereabouts are unknown. Charged in Uzbekistan with membership of Hizb-ut Tahrir, a radical Islamic organisation banned in Uzbekistan and Russia, the Applicant fled in 1995 to Russia, where he was detained pending extradition in 2004. The extradition order was stayed pending a seven year and four month prison sentence in Russia for terrorist offences. After serving his sentence, he was again detained pending extradition, which was stayed by a Rule 39 Interim Measure of the ECtHR.
