Nils Muižnieks submits third party intervention in S.O. v. Austria (no. 44825/15) and A.A. v. Austria (44944/15) on Dublin transfers to Hungary

Date: 
Thursday, December 17, 2015

On 17 December 2015, Nils Muižnieks submitted a third party intervention in the cases of S.O. v. Austria (no. 44825/15) and A.A. v Austria (no. 44944/15) which relate to the transfer of the two applicants from Austria to Hungary under the Dublin III Regulation. His observations are primarily based on his visit to Hungary from 24-27 November 2015 and his report published following his visit to Hungary from 1-4 July 2014.

His intervention refers to recent national case law from the Netherlands (Council of State, 26 November 2015) and Germany (Administrative Court of Düsseldorf, 3 September 2015) in which Dublin returns to Hungary were suspended.

He concludes that current asylum law and practice in Hungary are not in compliance with international and European human rights standards. Dublin returnees are at high risk of being detained in poor conditions with ineffective remedies available to challenge this. Furthermore, Dublin returnees are exposed to a very high risk of being subject to deportation to Serbia and onward chain refoulement leading to a risk of violation of Article 3 ECHR, due to the Hungarian law considering Serbia as a safe third country, which applies retroactively. 

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Keywords: 
Dublin Transfer
Indirect refoulement
Inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
Non-refoulement
Safe third country