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The applicant is a national of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) who arrived in Ireland in November 2009, and claimed asylum. In a report dated the 8th March, 2010, under s. 13(1) of the Refugee Act 1996 (as amended) the Office of the Refugee Commissioner gave a negative recommendation upon the asylum application. This recommendation was based upon the primary conclusion that the account given by the applicant as the basis of his fear of persecution lacked credibility.

In the case of KA (Afghanistan) and others v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2012] EWCA Civ 1014, the England and Wales Court of Appeal established a series of principles to be applied to cases where the Secretary of State for the Home Department had breached her duty to trace the families of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children as prescribed by Article 19.3 of the Reception Directive. This judgment established that said duty was not fulfilled by merely granting children leave to remain until they were 17 and a half and directing them to the Red Cross.

In the first analysis of the steps taken in 2012 with regard to the new EU legislation on asylum, Statewatch reviews the pieces of legislation which were agreed, but not adopted, in 2012, and those which were still under negotiation by the end of the year. Under the first category fall the Directive on Reception Conditions and the Dublin Regulation, while negotiations are still on going for the Directive on asylum procedures and the Eurodac Regulation. The outstanding issues concerning these two pieces of legislation are also analysed.

(Regulation (EC) No 343/2003 – Determining the Member State responsible for examining an asylum application lodged in one of the Member States by a third‑country national – Article 3(2) – Sovereignty clause – Article 15 – Humanitarian clause – Application of Regulation No 343/2003 consistent with fundamental rights – Article 4 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights – Prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment – Article 7 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights – Respect for private and family life)