3 April 2008
Spotlight on Greece - EU asylum lottery under fire
In an open letter sent to the European Commission and
the 27 Member States ECRE, an alliance of refugee groups across Europe, calls
for measures to be taken to safeguard the rights of asylum seekers entering the
EU via Greece.
Greece has the lowest rate of asylum-seeker application approval in the
European Union. It gave the green light to only 0.04% of requests last year,
0.05% in 2006 and recognised
only 39 and 11 refugees in 2005 and 2004 respectively. Afghans and Iraqis
fleeing war make up the bulk of those who seek asylum in Greece, fearing
political persecution in their countries.
Under
the so-called Dublin system, the first EU Member State that an asylum seeker
enters should be the one to examine the application. ÒBy requiring that those fleeing persecution must claim asylum in
the first EU country they reach, the Dublin system fails to take account of the
fact that a personÕs chance of being recognised as a refugee varies hugely from
one EU country to another. Greece is not a safe place for
those in need of protectionÓ said Bjarte Vandvik Secretary General of ECRE.
On
7 February 2008, Norway took the decision to suspend the Dublin system and
examine the applications of all asylum seekers who had passed through Greece on
their way to Norway. The Norwegian authoritiesÕ decision followed new
information about the violation of asylum seekersÕ rights in Greece. Germany
has stopped transferring separated children back to Greece and other states are
also reviewing their policies on whether it is safe to return asylum seekers
there. ECRE calls on all Member States to
follow the example of Norway by immediately suspending Dublin transfers to Greece.
The
rights of asylum seekers in Greece are routinely violated. Ahmed is an asylum
seeker from Iraq. He told us that he first fled to Syria, then Turkey before
finally reaching Greece, where he was arrested, beaten by police and detained
for one month on a remote island. Before being released from prison, Ahmed
agreed to have his fingerprints taken on the understanding that it would not
prevent him from lodging an asylum request in another EU country. Since Ahmed
was homeless and harassed by the police he decided to contact a smuggler to
help him travel to Sweden, where he was told that he would have to be returned
to Greece because his fingerprints had been taken there. To avoid being
deported, Ahmed fled to Norway. ÒI ask for your mercy because of all the
obstacles that I have experiencedÓ.
The
current situation in Greece is just one symptom of more fundamental and
far-reaching flaws inherent in the Dublin system as highlighted in a new ECRE
report. ECREÕs findings reveal the injustices of the Dublin system, which fails
to protect the rights of asylum seekers because it is based on the false
assumption that there is a level playing field of protection across the EU.
ECRE calls on
the European Commission to take account of the recommendations in its report
when proposing amendments to the Dublin Regulation later this year. These
include measures to:
- á
Suspend transfers to states that cannot guarantee
a full and fair examination of asylum claims or proper reception
standards.
- á
Better ensure the reunification of family
members.
- á
Improve solidarity and the sharing of resources
between states, including a financial solidarity fund and the use of
expert support teams.
- á
Introduce a special responsibility
determination procedure for cases involving children and other
vulnerable groups, focusing on their best interests and special needs.
As well as
being unfair, the Dublin rules are also inefficient, resource-intensive and
an obstacle to genuine sharing of responsibility between members states. ECRE has long advocated replacing the
Dublin regime with a system that safeguards the rights of refugees and ensures
responsibility sharing in processing applications between Member States. ÒTen
years on, the Dublin system still isnÕt achieving its aim – thus
failing refugees and Member States. The EU can surely find a better system
than the current one which bounces vulnerable refugees around Europe like
ping pong balls, with devastating consequences for those unlucky enough to
land in countries which lack proper asylum systemsÓ added Bjarte Vandvik.
Notes
to Editors:
1. The
European Council on Refugees & Exiles (ECRE)
represents 63 refugee-assisting organisations throughout 28 European
countries.
2. Sharing
Responsibility for Refugee Protection in Europe: Dublin Reconsidered available
at www.ecre.org
3. The
Dublin Regulation is a mechanism for allocating responsibility
to a Single Member State for processing an asylum claim. It establishes a
hierarchy of criteria for identifying the responsible Member States and
aims at ensuring that every asylum claim within the EU is examined by a
Member state as well as preventing multiple asylum claims.
4. ECRE
public letters sent to the European Commission and to the 27 EU Member
States calling for the suspension of Dublin transfers to Greece will be
available at www.ecre.org from 03 April
08.
5. Asylum-seeker
application approval rates in Greece: the statistics for 2007 and 2006 only
refer to 1st instance decisions, while the 2005 and 2004 figures
are for first and second instance. In 2007, the recognition rate on appeal
was 2.05% and for 2006 it was 2.08%.
6. The case
study of Ahmed is based on information provided by the Norwegian
Organisation for Asylum Seekers (NOAS), a member organisation of ECRE,
during an interview they conducted while preparing a forthcoming report on the situation faced by
asylum seekers in Greece. This report was drafted jointly with the Norwegian Helsinki Committee and Greek Helsinki Monitor.
For further information/background and
interviews
ECRE Secretary General, Bjarte Vandvik
Tel +32 (0) 2 234 38 06 or +32 496 288
047 (mobile)
ECRE Head of Policy and Advocacy, Chris Nash
Tel+44 (0) 207377 7556 or +44 9007912300366 (mobile)
- Ends
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