Belgium: Council for Aliens Law Litigation suspends Dublin transfer to Italy

Date: 
Friday, June 3, 2016

The Council for Aliens Law Litigation decided to suspend the Dublin transfer decision of an Iraqi national to Italy in a judgment rendered on 3 June 2016. The Iraqi national was previously fingerprinted in Brindisi, Italy, and a take-back request on the part of Belgium was sent to the Italian authorities. The Council established that the Belgian State Secretary for Asylum and Migration had not conducted a thorough inquiry of the circumstances in Italy and therefore exposed the applicant to a possible breach of article 3 of the Convention.

The Council recalled case law from the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and reiterated its findings from Auad and Tarakhel, that returning an asylum seeker to a country where he or she faces a real risk of being subjected to treatment in breach of article 3 amounts to a breach of that same article. It also repeated its conclusion from Auad that the authorities are obliged to conduct a thorough research on the foreseeable consequences of a forced return, taking into account the situation in the country and the specific situation of the asylum seeker. The defendant had based its return decision partially on the AIDA report for Italy, where it is mentioned that the conditions in the ‘Dublin returnee reception centres’ are not contrary to international standards. However the Council pointed to the fact that this was only a partial reading of the AIDA report and that the report also mentioned that in June 2015, the ‘Dublin returnee reception centres’ were closed. The Belgian authorities failed to inquire about new initiatives or a possible reopening of the ‘Dublin returnee reception centres’, thereby failing the conditions laid down in Auad and also ignoring the requirement from Tarakhel that up-to-date information has to be the basis of a Dublin transfer. The CALL thus suspended the Dublin transfer to Italy.

The ELENA Weekly Legal Update would like to thank Franz Geleyn for notifying us of this judgment.


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: 
Dublin Transfer
Individual assessment
Inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
Material reception conditions
Personal circumstances of applicant
Reception conditions