PRO ASYL: A victory for the protection of human rights in Europe
PRO ASYL welcomes the leading decision of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Establishing that the transfer of an afghan asylum seeker from Belgium to Greece constituted a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights will have implications for thousands of cases of asylum seekers, threatened to be returned to Greece.
Strasbourg finds a violation of Article 3 of the Convention by both, Greece and Belgium: the living and detention conditions that protection seekers face in Greece represent a case of inhumane and degrading treatment. The condemnation of the returning state, Belgium, and the receiving state, Greece, is a “victory for the protection of human rights in Europe” according to PRO ASYL.
With this ruling, Strasbourg clarifies that blind deportations without effective safeguards against the transfer are not in accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights. “After the Strasbourg judgment transfers of asylum seekers to Greece have to be suspended throughout the EU” declares Karl Kopp, director of European Affairs with PRO ASYL. “The obvious collapse of the Greek asylum system is also a sign of a systemic crisis of the Dublin II System (for determining the responsibility for asylum claims within the EU).” The deficient Dublin-Regulation has to be revised fundamentally. The EU is obliged to quickly establish an arrangement for the allocation of responsibility regarding asylum in the spirit of solidarity and fully conforming to human rights.
Contact details:
0049 69 23 06 95
presse@proasyl.de