EASO has released its second Annual Report on the Situation of Asylum in the EU in 2012. The report includes an overview of the number of applicants for international protection in the EU, as well as recognition rates and major developments at both the national and EU level. A total of 335,365 asylum applications were filed in the EU, and the overall EU protection rate was 28%.
The main proceedings concern an Iranian national, Mr. Puid, who traveled from Teheran to Athens in October 2007 and after four days there continued to Frankfurt, where he requested asylum at the airport. The German Asylum Office determined that his application was inadmissible because, according to the Dublin Regulation, Greece was responsible for its processing. The applicant brought a court action against this decision seeking its annulment and asking the competent court to order Germany to process his application. He was shortly afterwards returned to Greece.
It observed that the original purpose of Eurodac, as set out in the Eurodac Regulation, is to facilitate the operation of the Dublin II Regulation with the aim of determining the Member State responsible for examining an asylum application. Based on this, UNHCR considered that Eurodac in principle should be used for its original, limited purpose, and not for objectives extending far beyond that. However, should this proposal be adopted, UNHCR recommended that several safeguards are put in place, including in particular:
(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.
