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Between Persecution and Protection: Refugees and the New European Asylum Policy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 October 2017
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The admission, reception and treatment of asylum seekers in the European Union has been an issue of continuing political and legal concern throughout the 1990’s. The rising numbers of persons seeking protection at the beginning of the period coupled with a rapidly developing regional jurisprudence on the right to protection from the European Court of Human Rights in particular, changed the nature of the debate. The Member States began to search for common policies and practices as regards asylum through intergovernmental measures. With the Amsterdam Treaty, the most important aspects of asylum have been transferred to the EC Treaty: criteria and mechanisms for determining which Member State is responsible for considering an application for asylum; minimum standards on reception of asylum seekers; minimum standards with respect to the qualification of nationals of third countries as refugees; minimum standards on procedures for granting and withdrawing refugee status amongst others.
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References
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41 For example, Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Bosnia, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Turkey, and others.
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57 Home Office form SEF.
58 Indeed, it is not even enough to cover the bus costs for asylum seekers to attend their interviews.
59 Home Office form SEF.
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62 Geddes above n 56 at 134-147.
63 Art. 63(l)(b) EC Treaty.
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65 9703100 Limite—Asile 28, 23 June 2000.
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67 Source: European Commission, Communication: Towards a common asylum proced ure, supra.
68 In 1999, 11, 140 persons benefited from the amnesty; in 2000 a further 10,330 received res idence rights on the amnesty basis; Home Office, Asylum Statistics: December 2000 United Kingdom.
69 TV5 report on the French gendarme encouraging illegal immigrants to go to Belgium, November 2000.
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71 Comparable statistical information on asylum seekers is not available in most other Member States.
72 “Hundreds Queue for British ‘Eldorado’” Agence France Presse 1 Feb. 2000; Refugees set their Sights on Britain Independent 21 Aug. 1999.
73 Calais one step from Heaven for refugees The Scotsman 1 Apr. 2000.
74 Agence Press 1 Feb. 2000 above n 70.
75 BBC Radio 4 News Report 5 Feb. 2001.
76 BBC Monitoring Service 22 July 2000. According to the report the French border police man was arrested and held in custody. Charges were being brought.
77 In the case of Sangatte this policy is reinforced by the Protocol between the United Kingdom and France concerning frontier controls and policing, co-operation in criminal just ice, public safety and mutual assistance relating to the Channel fixed link 1991 and its Additional Protocol 2000 whereby the policing of the United Kingdom border is the duty of the French border guards.
78 OJ 2000 L 252/12
79 OJ 2000 L 316/1.
80 Arts. 3 and 10 Decision above n 73.
81 Peers above n 33
82 Art. 4 of the Regulation above n 79.
83 Art. 6 of the Regulation Ibid.
84 Art. 9 of the Regulation ibid.
85 Art. 11 of the Regulation ibid.
86 Art. 11(3) of the Regulation ibid.
87 Annex 4 Common Consular Instructions, part of the Schengen acquis: Belgium has notified the following residence documents only as granting the right of visa free travel to third country nationals resident within the Union (English term): Identity Card for Foreigners; Certificate attesting to entry in foreigners register; Diplomats Identity Card; Consular Identity Card; Special Identity Card (blue in colour); Special Identity Card (red in colour) Identity card for children under the age of five of aliens who are holders of diplomatic identity cards, consular identity cards, blue special identity cards or red special identity cards; certificate of identity with photograph issued by Belgian communes to children under twelve; list of persons participating in a school trip within the European Union.
88 Intergovernmentally, the Member States within the Third Pillar agreed a Resolution on a minimum guarantees for asylum procedures (Brussels June 1995) and the Commission has proposed a Directive on Minimum Standards on procedures in Member States for granting and withdrawing refugee status COM(2000) SEC.
89 UNHCR, Brussels Office: Revisiting the Dublin Convention: Some Reflections by UNHCR in response to the Commission staff working paper, Autumn, 2000, 6.
90 R v. Secretary of State for the Home Department ex parte Adan & Aitseguer Judgments 19 December 2000; www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.United Kingdom/pa/ld200001/ldjudgmt/jd001219/adan-1.htm>
91 For a review of Amnesty’s position see Amnesty International European Union Association “Amnesty International has called before that the adoption of EC measures in the field of asylum respect fully, this is not only formally but also in practice, the international obligations of Member States under international refugee law and international human rights law, so that they reflect the broad framework of existing and evolving international law and standards, including the relevant jurisprudence and interpretation. One such international obligation is that it is the country where a refugee applies for asylum which is obliged to consider the application substantively and to ensure that the refugee is not directly or indirectly returned to persecution.” Revision of the Dublin Convention: Comments on the Commission Staff Working Paper October (2000) 2.
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94 i.e. notwithstanding the legislation to the contrary establishing an irrebuttable presump tion of safety: Henkel J. above n 16, 84.
95 BverfG Decision of 14 May 1996—2BvR 1938/93, 2315—BverfGE 94,49 <99> as quoted in Henkel J. ibid.
96 For the history of the United Kingdom courts and the Dublin Convention see Nicol and Harrison above n 49 at 465 et seq.
97 For a fuller analysis of the question see Noll G. “Formalism v. Empiricism: Some Reflections on the Dublin Convention on the Occasion of Recent European Case Law” (2001) Nordic Journal of Human Rights (forthcoming).
98 R v. Secretary of State for the Home Department ex parte Adan & Aitseguer above n 90
99 Judgment of Lord Slynn of Hadley in Adan & Aitseguer ibid.
100 Judgment of Lord Slynn of Hadley in Adan & Aitseguer ibid.
101 Judgment of Lord Steyn in Adan & Aitseguer ibid.
102 TI v. United Kingdom [2000] Immigration and Nationality Law Reports 211.
103 Above n 90.
104 TI v. United Kingdom ibid.
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