Belgian - Council of State quashes CALLs decision for vulnerable asylum applicant

Date: 
Monday, December 8, 2014

Procedurally the case relates to several (6) asylum applications lodged in Belgium which were refused to be taken into consideration by the authorities and later subject to annulment appeals by the applicant. The last two of these annulment appeals were rejected by the Council of Aliens Law Litigation (CALL) on the basis that the applicant had not provided new elements to the claim. Notably, this was due to the lack of reasons provided as to why evidence certifying psychological trauma had not be given at an earlier stage.  The Council of State held that the CALL had incorrectly applied domestic legislation relating to the provision of new elements. In fact the applicant could not bring the evidence any earlier to her claim as medical attention and subsequent reports were done after the fourth asylum application.

The CALLs decision was thus annulled by the Council of State and sent back to the CALL for a new assessment of the initial appeal, observing the judgment of the Council of State.   

The ELENA Weekly Legal Update would like to thank Céline Verbrouck for notifying us of this decision.

Based on an ELENA unofficial translation.


5 December 2014                                      

This item was reproduced with the permission of ECRE from the weekly ELENA legal update supported by the Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Funding Programme and distributed by email. The purpose of these updates is to inform asylum lawyers and legal organizations supporting asylum seekers and refugees of recent developments in the field of asylum law. Please note that the information provided is taken from publicly available information on the internet. Every reasonable effort is made to make the content accurate and up to date at the time each item is published but no responsibility for its accuracy and correctness, or for any consequences of relying on it, is assumed by ECRE, the IRC or its partners.     

Keywords: 
Subsequent application
Tags: 
Belgium