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| Wed 22 May 2013 12 Rajab 1434 AH |
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INTERNATIONAL & EU CONVENTIONS
1948
- Universal Declaration of Human RightsArticle 14 states that "everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution". The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Declaration in December 1948.
For the text of the Declaration click
here.
1951
Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees
The convention was framed to cope with the refugee problems emerging in the
aftermath of World War II and the start of the Cold War.
The Convention defines a refugee as any person 'who owing to well-founded fear
of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of
a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his
nationality and is unable or, owing to fear is unwilling, to avail himself of
the protection of that country - or return to it'.
The core obligation is that of 'non-refoulement', not sending someone back into
a situation of possible persecution. Another important obligation is not to
penalise asylum seekers for entering a country 'illegally'.
For the text of the Convention click
here.
1967
protocol to the 1951 Convention
The protocol formally required signatories to cooperate with the Office of the
United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), for example with respect
to reporting and monitoring refugee issues.
The 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol are usually considered together as a single
instrument in international law. It is out-dated in the sense that it assumes
that 'agents of persecution' are states. However today refugees more often flee
areas where there is no functioning government, or where they are victims of
rebel movements or local militia. Moreover people also flee their country due
to foreign aggression, foreign domination, internal conflicts, massive violations
of human rights, or other circumstances that have seriously disturbed public
order.Perversely, some EU governments have resorted to a strict interpretation
of the Convention to deny asylum rights to refugees. For example Germany did
not recognise the Taleban regime of Afghanistan, and hence would not accept
Afghan refugees.
For the protocol relating to the Status of Refugees click
here.
For the Labour Government's criticism of the 1951 Convention click
here.
1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child
The Convention includes a clause that states "the child is protected against all forms of discrimination or punishment on the basis of the status, activities, expressed opinions, or beliefs of the child's parents, legal guardians or family members". A further Article states that convention signatories "shall take appropriate measures to ensure that a child who is seeking refugee status or who is considered a refugee in accordance with applicable international or domestic law and procedures shall,whether accompanied or unaccompanied, by his or her parents or any other person, receive appropriate protection and humanitarian assistance in the enjoyment of applicable rights set forth in the present Convention and in other international human rights and humanitarian instruments to which the said States are parties".
For the full text click
here.
To read more about the UK Government's Reservation to the 1989 Convention on
the Rights of the Child click
here.
1993 - Treaty of Mastricht
The Maastricht Treaty is officially known as the Treaty on the European Union.
Its 'Third Pillar ' concerns co-operation in the fields of asylum and immigration
policy, the crossing of the external borders of the Union and police co-operation.
1995 - The Schengen Agreement
In March 1995 seven EU countries - Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain,
Portugal and the Netherlands - abolished internal border controls. Countries
subsequently subscribing to the convention include Norway, Iceland, Italy and
Greece. Police forces collaborated in the establishment of a shared IT system.
For the Schengen Information System, a database to support border controls,
click
here.
1997 - The Dublin Convention
The convention applies to all EU countries and its underlying principal is that
asylum claims should be examined just once in the EU and that the Member state
responsible for the presence of the asylum seeker in the EU should be responsible
for concluding that examination. . It addressed the problems of so-called "refugees
in orbit" (refugees that fail to find a state willing to take responsibility
for examining their asylum applications and are therefore shuffled from country
to country in a constant quest for asylum) and "asylum shopping" (multiple
asylum claims, simultaneously or successively lodged in different Member States
by the same person).
Under the Dublin Convention, someone wishing to apply for asylum in an European
Union Country does not actually have to apply in the first 'safe' country tht
they get to as there may be very strong reasons why the person should apply
in another EU country - they may have family members there or they may feel
more secure because of strong community links.
For a comparison of Schengen with the Dublin convention, click
here.
1999 - Treaty of Amsterdam
Though signed in 1997, it did not come into force till two years later. The Treaty initiated the process of developing procedural rules within the EU, in particular in the fields of external border control, asylum and immigration. It does not recognise the possibility of asylum from one EU country to another e.g. for the Basques of France and Spain.
For a Guide to the Treaty of Amsterdam click here.
June 2002 Seville Summit
Home Secretary Blunkett called for the closure of the Sandgate refugee Centre near Calais and mooted the proposal of linking EU aid to countries outside the union that cooperate with the return of failed asylum seekers. By December 2002, EU interior ministers must adopt proposals from the European Commission revising the Dublin Convention. The proposals would make the convention, which stipulates that the state where an asylum seeker first sets foot on EU soil is responsible for handling any asylum application, legally binding on all EU states.
This is expected to provide a uniform pan-European approach on asylum, thus
formal inaugurating 'Fortress Europe'?
"It is, however, no secret that the sudden interest of the European states in refugees is not so much derived from genuine concern for the well-being of the persecuted, but much rather from their fear of excessive influx by what are often referred to as migrants. In times of record unemployment and rising tensions in most of the Member States, their intention of keeping out economic migrants is hardly disguised. Despite solemn avowals to act in keeping with the values of the Geneva Convention on Refugees, articulated in the Maastricht Treaty and reiterated in the Amsterdam Treaty, many observers are concerned that the standardisation of European refugee law will have a detrimental effect on the ability of asylum seekers to have their cases heard fairly".
(Source: Roma and the Treaty of Amsterdam: safe European home? - Tanja Koch-Baerman, http//www.errc.org/rr_nr1_1999/note1.shtml)
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