The applicant in the main proceedings is a Togolese national whose asylum application was rejected in Luxembourg. She was granted tolerated status after the birth of her twin children. They were granted French citizenship shortly afterwards as their father was a French citizen. Ms. Alopka and her children remained in Luxembourg living in a shelter for families without resources. Later on, she applied for residence. Her application was rejected and she was ordered to leave the country. In the course of appeals proceedings, she also presented an employment offer she got.
The Court's factsheet on expulsions and extraditions has been updated in April 2013. It summarises cases of the Court where expulsions and extraditions of foreigners raised issues under Article 3 of the Convention owing to risk of ill-treatment by the state or by third parties, possible damages to the health of the applicant, or membership to political resistance or stigmatised minorities. Dublin transfers are also covered, as well as detention and detention conditions awaiting deportation and possible violations of the right to private life.
In December 2012, further negotiations took place on the asylum procedures directive. The Cyprus Presidency presented then compromise proposals for the JHA Counsellors meeting and for the trilogue which took place on December, 17 with the European Commission and the Parliament.
The text of the proposals for the JHA Counsellors meeting can be read here.
The United Kingdom's Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) has held that no inconsistency between the Qualification Directive (and the British legislation implementing it) and the Geneva Convention of 1951 arises from the fact that the former provides for the revocation of asylum status and the second does not contain any provision on revocation of refugee status.
The applicants are an Armenian couple who entered Belgium in 2010 and applied for asylum. At the initial interview aimed at determining their situation regarding the Dublin Regulation, they declared that the parents of one of them lived in Belgium. The Belgian authorities found out that both applicants had obtained visas from the Italian embassy in Armenia before arriving in Belgium, although they had never travelled to Italy. The Belgian authorities ordered the applicants to leave the country.
A German coalition composed of seven organisations (Pro Asyl, Diakonie, the Paritärische Welfare Association, AWO, the Jesuit Refugee Service, the German Bar Association and the Neue Richtervereinigung) has issued a memorandum criticising the Dublin system for the allocation of responsibility for the examination of asylum claims in the EU. The memorandum argues that the current system overburdens states at the external borders at the EU and, as a result of this, forces asylum seekers into destitution and loss of their rights.
(Freedom of movement of persons - Regulation (EEC) No 1612/68 - Article 12 - Divorced spouse of a national of a Member State who has worked in another Member State - Adult child pursuing his studies in the host Member State - Right of residence of parent who is national of a non-Member State - Directive 2004/38/EC - Articles 16 to 18 - Right of permanent residence of family members of a Union citizen who are not nationals of a Member State - Legal residence - Residence based on Article 12 above)
The French Conseil d'État adjudicated in December 2012 on three cases concerning female genital mutilation (FGM) and overruled the jurisprudence of the Cour nationale du droit d'asile. The Conseil d'État has decided that girls born in France threatened with FGM can constitute, under certain circumstances, a social group in the sense of the Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and can therefore be granted asylum.
Every year, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association produces maps on Gay and Lesbian Rights in the world as well as its state sponsored Homophobia Report. ILGA has recently published the 2012 version of its map on Lesbian and Gay rights in the world. As with most of the material, the map is available in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French but this year the map is also available in Chinese, Hindi and German.
