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EU asylum programme must focus on burden-sharing, says Lubbers

News Stories, 5 November 2004

© UNHCR/M.Cierna
A refugee reception centre in Adamov, Slovakia. Greater burden-sharing within the EU is crucial as more asylum seekers flock to new EU states like Slovakia.

GENEVA, Nov 5 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency has welcomed today's adoption of the European Union's new multiannual asylum programme, but warned that much more needs to be done for refugee protection both in Europe and beyond.

"UNHCR looks forward to working with the EU to make sure that we provide better protection to refugees," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers, responding to the European Council's adoption of the EU's five-year programme in the area of freedom, security and justice, known as the "Hague Programme", in Brussels on Friday.

He added, "The first phase of EU harmonization of asylum policy was only a beginning. Much more needs to be done, both within Europe's borders and beyond."

The first phase, from 1999-2004, saw the adoption of a set of directives containing minimum standards. Now that EU countries must transpose these directives into national legislation, UNHCR has urged them to adopt or retain national laws which offer higher levels of refugee protection instead of harmonizing their policies at the level of the lowest common denominator allowed by the directives.

In an editorial released earlier in the day, Lubbers had advised EU leaders that to manage instead of simply react to today's asylum and migration challenges, they need to harmonize not only their laws but also their practice.

The Hague Programme states that the transposition process will be monitored, with an evaluation of the measures adopted in the first phase of harmonization set for 2007. UNHCR has called on the EU to ensure that the process is transparent and consultative, taking into account the views of independent experts, including UNHCR and specialised non-governmental organisations.

In Brussels, EU leaders agreed to put a common asylum system in place by 2010, with the European Commission studying the legal and practical implications of joint processing of asylum applications within the EU.

As High Commissioner Lubbers pointed out in this morning's editorial, the current standards of refugee recognition and asylum procedures in EU countries vary greatly. UNHCR hopes that the joint processing, if it is ever adopted, will ensure greater consistency and higher quality in decision-making.

This, in turn, could lead to a faster and more efficient system for returning properly rejected cases to their home countries. In the meantime, practical cooperation among EU states and between them and UNHCR could help to improve asylum decision-making throughout Europe.

The refugee agency also welcomed the external dimension of European asylum policy, noting that the Hague Programme's "Regional Protection Plans" could fit well with UNHCR's Convention Plus initiative to help the bulk of the world's refugees who remain in developing countries. Thus the EU could contribute a great deal towards building a more accessible, equitable and effective system of refugee protection worldwide.

"These plans should be directed at a genuine improvement in the protection and welfare of refugees in other parts of the world," said Lubbers. "They must also be coupled with European readiness to share responsibilities with the developing countries where most of the world's refugees are sheltered. If their purpose is simply to shift the burden, then not only will they be doomed to failure, they will also seriously undermine the global refugee system, to the detriment of everyone including the EU itself."

In his editorial, the High Commissioner had urged EU leaders to shun political expediency in favour of a reliable asylum system that is fair and efficient.

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Thousands of irregular migrants, some of whom are asylum-seekers and refugees, have sought shelter in a squalid, makeshift camp close to the Greek port of Patras since it opened 13 years ago. The camp consisted of shelters constructed from cardboard and wood and housed hundreds of people when it was closed by the Greek government in July 2009. UNHCR had long maintained that it did not provide appropriate accommodation for asylum-seekers and refugees. The agency had been urging the government to find an alternative and put a stronger asylum system in place to provide appropriate asylum reception facilities for the stream of irregular migrants arriving in Greece each year.The government used bulldozers to clear the camp, which was destroyed by a fire shortly afterwards. All the camp residents had earlier been moved and there were no casualties. Photographer Zalmaï, a former refugee from Afghanistan, visited the camp earlier in the year.

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From the corners of the globe, the displaced converge in northern France

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Some have family in the UK or have heard that it is easy to get a good job there. Others have been forced to flee their countries because of political, religious or ethnic persecution, and may be entitled to refugee status.

Since early June, the UN refugee agency and its local partner, France Terre d'Asile, have been present in Calais, informing and counselling hundreds of people about asylum systems and procedures in France and the UK.

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South Africa is one of the few countries in Africa where registered refugees and asylum-seekers can legally move about freely, access social services and compete with locals for jobs.

But while these right are enshrined in law, in practice they are sometimes ignored and refugees and asylum-seekers often find themselves turned away by employers or competing with the poorest locals for the worst jobs - especially in the last few years, as millions have fled political and economic woes in countries like Zimbabwe. The global economic downturn has not helped.

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