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  • Formal adoption of Protocol 15 to the European Convention on Human Rights

    Date: 
    Friday, October 4, 2013

    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.

  • UK: Court of Appeal Issues Guidance for Trafficking Victims in Criminal Cases

    Date: 
    Friday, October 4, 2013

    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: analysis of Frontex's 2013 work programme

    Date: 
    Friday, October 4, 2013

    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.

  • UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants underscores the responsibility of the EU for the situation of irregular migrants in Greece

    Date: 
    Friday, October 4, 2013

    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.

  • Ireland: Family reunification case provides interpretation for the notion of dependency

    Date: 
    Friday, October 4, 2013

    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.

  • ECtHR releases decision in Bajsultanov v. Austria (no. 54131/10) [Articles 3 and 8 ECHR]

    Date: 
    Friday, October 4, 2013

    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.

  • Germany: Federal Constitutional Court deems material reception conditions for asylum seekers in Germany unconstitutional

    Date: 
    Friday, October 4, 2013

    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.

  • Hungary: report on access to territory and asylum procedure in Hungary 2012

    Date: 
    Friday, October 4, 2013

    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.

  • UK: Appeal judgment in the case of Othman (Abu Qatada)

    Date: 
    Friday, October 4, 2013

    The Court of Appeal has dismissed the appeal of the Secretary of State for the Home Department against the decision of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) which held that Mr. Othman should not be deported to stand trial in Jordan. Three months after the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights holding that the deportation of Mr.

  • ECtHR decision in R.J. v France, Application No. 10466/11, 19 September 2013

    Date: 
    Friday, October 4, 2013

    The applicant is a Tamil from Sri Lanka who sought asylum in France on 2nd February 2011. He claims that he was persecuted by the Sri Lankan authorities because of his origin and his political activities in support of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). He also claims that, while acting as treasurer of a trade union, he paid part of its assets to the LTTE. He was arrested by the authorities and, he claims, subjected to physical abuse while in detention.

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