(Dublin system - Regulation (EC) No 343/2003 - Procedure for determining the Member State responsible for examining an asylum application - Third-country nationals in possession of a valid visa issued by the Member State responsible within the meaning of Regulation No 343/2003 - Asylum application lodged in a Member State other than the State responsible pursuant to that regulation - Application for a residence permit in a Member State other than the State responsible followed by the withdrawal of the asylum application - Withdrawal occurring before the Member State responsible a
(Applications for asylum – Directive 2003/9/EC – Minimum standards for the reception of asylum seekers in the Member States – Regulation (EC) No 343/2003 – Obligation to guarantee asylum seekers minimum reception conditions during the procedure of taking charge or taking back by the responsible Member State – Determining the Member State obliged to assume the financial burden of the minimum conditions)
On 16 May, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted and opened for signature and ratification the latest amendments to the European Convention on Human Rights. They will enter into force once all the 47 States Parties to the Convention have ratified the new Protocol 15. The amendments introduced to the Convention are in short the following:
-The introduction, in the Preamble of the Convention, of a reference to the principle of subsidiarity and the doctrine of the margin of appreciation as developed in the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights.
The UK Court of Appeal overturned the convictions against three children from Vietnam who were trafficked to the UK and convicted for drug offences after a police raid on the cannabis factories in which they were forced to work. The judgement is a milestone reflecting the recently adopted EU Anti-Trafficking Directive.
Statewatch.org has published an analysis for Frontex's work programme for 2013, drafted by Marie Martin. The analysis also includes the first work programme of the Consultative Forum on Fundamental Rights. The paper argues that Frontex's budget remains one of the biggest among the Justice and Home Affairs agencies and that its priorities will not differ much from 2012, with sea operations, border surveillance and further cooperation with third countries as the most prominent ones. The paper is critical of the limited attention paid to fundamental rights.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants visited Greece at the end of November in view of the report he will be presenting to the UN Human Rights Council in June 2013 on the management of the EU external borders. At the end of his visit he pointed out that the large number of irregular migrants stuck in Greece is a result of the EU policies and practices and that hence solidarity and responsibility-sharing within the EU were necessary to ensure respect for the human rights of migrants in Greece.
The case concerns a couple of Somali origin, one of whose members had been recognized as a refugee in Ireland, which wished to reunite a niece and a nephew who had been their de facto wards since they were orphaned. Their application was refused on the grounds that the nephew and the niece were not dependent on the applicants, who then appealed to the Irish High Court.
The applicant, Ruslan Bajsultanov, is a Russian national of Chechen origin who was born in 1980. He arrived in Austria with his family in July 2003 claiming asylum following his narrow escape from a “cleaning operation” carried out against him in Chechnya by mercenary soldiers. He alleged that he was wanted due to his support of Chechen fighters from 1994 to 1996. He was granted asylum in July 2005 which was, however, lifted in October 2008 and his expulsion ordered following three convictions for various serious offences, including aggravated bodily harm.
On 18/07/2012, the German Federal Constitutional Court pronounced its judgment on submissions of the Higher Social Court of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (Landessozialgericht Nordrhein-Westfalen) on the question whether the cash benefits paid according to the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act (Asylbewerberleistungsgesetz – AsylbLG) to secure the recipients’ existence are constitutional.
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC) has published its annual report on external border monitoring activities carried out in partnership with UNHCR and the Hungarian national police. The report documents a significant increase of intercepted unaccompanied children. The HHC and UNHCR recommend that the Hungarian authorities should carry out individual and substantive examinations in each case to determine the best interest of the child in expulsion procedures.
