The
European Parliament adopted, by 487 to 39 with 45 abstentions, a resolution
on the implementation in the European Union of Directive
2003/9/EC laying down minimum standards for the reception of
asylum seekers and refugees.
The
resolution draws on findings by the Civil Liberties Committee during visits
to detention centres for asylum seekers and refugees 2005-2008.
General
comments and asylum procedures: Parliament
regrets that some visits revealed that the existing directives were being
poorly applied, or were not being applied at all, by some Member States. It
calls on the Commission to take the necessary measures to ensure that the
directives are transposed and complied with more than just formally.
Parliament deplores the number of deficiencies regarding the level of
reception conditions which mainly results from the fact that Directive
2003/9/EC currently allows Member States a wide margin of discretion
concerning the establishment of reception conditions at national level.
Therefore, it welcomes the proposal to recast Directive 2003/9/EC (see COD/2008/0244)
which should ensure higher standards of treatment for asylum seekers. MEPs
call on the Commission to establish, in cooperation with the European
Parliament, a permanent system of visits and inspections in the Member
States. It hopes that the Committee on Civil Liberties can continue its
visits with a view to ensuring that Community law concerning reception
conditions and return procedures is complied with.
More
solidarity between Member States: Parliament
calls on the Member States to show more solidarity - not limited to technical
and/or financial solidarity - with the countries most affected by the
challenges of immigration. It calls on the Commission to study the
possibility of proposing an EU solidarity instrument aimed at
relieving the burden posed by the high number of refugees received by Member
States with external borders, which would be based on the principle of
respect for the wishes of asylum seekers and would afford a high level of
protection.
As regards the
state of play on the implementation of the Directive, this can be summarized
as follows:
- Reception: Parliament regrets that the open accommodation centres set
up by certain Member States have low capacity and do not appear to meet
migrants’ needs. It calls for priority to be given to the reception of
asylum seekers and immigrants in open reception centres, rather
than in closed units. The Commission is urged to remind Member States
that withdrawal or reduction of reception conditions on grounds not
included in the Reception Directive is or should be strictly prohibited.
Basic reception conditions, such as food, housing and emergency heath
care should never be withheld, since their withdrawal may violate asylum
seekers’ fundamental rights. MEPs also consider it necessary to find a
fair balance between speedy procedures, reducing the backlog and fair
treatment of each individual case, particularly in accelerated procedure
cases.
- Access to
information and right to interpretation:
information about procedures is largely in writing and deadlines are
very short, which poses a problem of understanding and constitutes an
obstacle to asylum seekers effectively exercising their rights when they
submit an application. Parliament calls for brochures explaining all the
rights of asylum seekers to be made available to them in the main
international languages and in the languages spoken by a significant
number of asylum seekers and immigrants in the Member State concerned. MEPs encourage the Member States to make use of financial assistance under the
European Refugee Fund in order to improve access to information and, in
particular, to increase the number of languages, or media, in which the
information is made available.
- Legal
assistance: Parliament regrets that access
to free legal aid appears limited for asylum seekers and detained
irregular immigrants. It urges the Member States to ensure access to
legal assistance and/or representation free of charge in all cases where
the asylum seeker cannot afford the costs involved.
- Detention: Parliament regrets that a number of Member States are
making increasing use of detention. It stresses that a person should
not in any event be held in detention for the sole reason that he/she is
seeking international protection. For them, detention must be a
measure of last resort, proportionate, for the shortest period
possible only in cases where other less coercive measures cannot be
applied and on the basis of an individual assessment of each case. They
are concerned at the prison conditions in which irregular migrants and
asylum seekers are detained even though they have committed no crime.
The dilapidated state of, and lack of hygiene in, certain detention
centres is a main concern. MEPs call on the Member States to provide
appropriate medical attention in detention centres, including
psychological care, day and night. In addition, an annual report should
be published on the number and location of closed detention centres, on
their operation and on the number of persons held there. The regular
inspection of closed detention centres and of the conditions in which
people are held there by creating a national detention centres
ombudsman should be ensured. Parliament
calls for all centres not complying with standards to be closed
as soon as possible.
- Unaccompanied
minors and families: Parliament calls for
the detention of minors to be prohibited in principle, and
for the detention of minors with their parents to be exceptional and
having the objective of ensuring that the best interests of the child
are served. It points out that all minors have the right to education,
whether or not they are in their country of origin. Member States should
guarantee that right, including when minors are in detention. Parliament
also calls on the Member States to guarantee that unaccompanied minors
and families are housed in separate accommodation even in detention, so
as to guarantee adequate privacy and family life. An independent legal
guardian should be appointed for each unaccompanied minor to
ensure his or her protection both in waiting areas such as airports,
railway stations and throughout the territory of the Member States. The
Commission and the Member States are called upon to introduce a
proactive duty to trace family members, including for organisations such
as the Red Cross and Red Crescent. MEPs are concerned about the
phenomenon of unaccompanied minors disappearing and calls on the Member
States to gather data and statistics pursuant to Regulation 862/2007/EC
concerning the identification of, and provision of assistance to,
unaccompanied minors in order to combat this phenomenon. A harmonised
and reliable mechanism for identifying unaccompanied minors should be put
in place – by making use of the latest technologies such as the use of
biometric data – and common rules concerning age disputes. In this
regard, Parliament considers that during an age dispute procedure the
person concerned must, as a precaution, be considered a minor until the
end of the procedure and therefore treated as such.
- Vulnerable
persons: the Commission is called upon to
lay down mandatory common standards for identifying vulnerable persons,
particularly victims of torture or human trafficking, people requiring
special medical treatment, pregnant women and minors. No vulnerable
person, given their particular circumstances, should be placed in
detention as that would have serious repercussions for their wellbeing.
Member States are urged to provide specialist assistance to vulnerable
persons and victims of torture and trafficking, particularly
psychological assistance, to ensure their protection. MEPs call for all
staff having contact with vulnerable persons, including the officials
responsible for asylum applications and the police, to receive
specialist training.