Eurostat has published the asylum statistics for 2012 in the European Union. They reflect an increase of 30.000 in the total number of applications presented in the European Union with respect to 2011. Germany, France, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Belgium received 70% of these applications. Afghanistan remained the first country of origin, followed by Syria and Russia. 14% of first instance decisions taken in 2012 granted refugee status, 10 % subsidiary protection and 2% authorisation to stay for humanitarian reasons, making up 27% positive first instance decisions.
In the issue of 29 March 2013, the Weekly Legal Update and EDAL reported on a decision of the Council of Europe's Social Rights Committee in which it found that Belgium [had] violated several rights of the European Social Charter of 1961 (...). The violations found were in fact violations of the European Social Charter Revised, and not of the Charter of 1961. The Weekly Legal Update and EDAL apologise for this mistake and hope that it did not cause confusion or inconvenience to readers.
On 21 - 25 January the PACE Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons will discuss several reports concerning the human rights role and capabilities of FRONTEX, the returns of irregular migrants and failed asylum seekers. They will also look at the integration of migrants and the rights of unaccompanied migrant children once they turn 18.
The applicants are the members of a stateless family who were granted asylum in Bulgaria in 2001 and live in Sofia. In 2006, Mr. Mahmud Amie, the father, was placed in detention following an order for his expulsion on grounds that he was involved in terrorist activities and represented a serious threat for national security. He was released after three months and then placed in detention again from 2008 to 2010 pending enforcement of his expulsion. He was released after the Sofia Administrative Court reviewed his detention.
The applicants, Ms A.A. and her five children, are Yemeni nationals who are currently living in Sweden pending enforcement of a deportation order to send them back to Yemen. Relying on Articles 2 (right to life) and 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment), the applicants alleged that, if deported to Yemen, they would face a real risk of being the victims of an honour crime as they had disobeyed their husband/father and had left their country without his permission. They arrived in Sweden in 2006 and immediately applied for asylum and residence permits.
The applicant is an Iranian national who lived in Athens when the application was lodged and currently in the United Kingdom, where he has applied for asylum. He entered Greece in 2010 and was arrested at the border. His removal was ordered, but it could not be carried out. He was kept in detention from October 2010 until January 2011 in the premises of the border police. In this time, he filed an asylum application, but the police rejected it. After being released, he left for the UK at an unspecified date.
AIDA is an ECRE project that compiles country reports and resources for asylum seekers, practitioners and advocates. Additionally, there is an interactive tool that allows one to compare asylum procedures, reception conditions, and detention practices across different European countries.
The applicants are two Afghan nationals who worked, respectively, as a driver for the UN and as an interpreter for the US armed forces in Afghanistan. They applied for asylum in the United Kingdom as they considered themselves at risk of harm from the Taliban, Hizb-i-Islam and the Afghan authorities. Their applications were rejected by the British authorities at several instances. Before the ECtHR, they alleged that their deportation to Afghanistan would constitute a breach of Article 3 ECHR.
The Belgian Arbeidshof te Brussel referred on February the following questions concerning the reception conditions directive to the CJEU for a preliminary ruling:
