UNHCR Comments on Dublin II and Eurodac Proposals

UNHCR comments on the European Commission's Proposal for a recast of the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an application for international protection lodged in one of the Member States by a third country national or a stateless person ("Dublin II") (COM(2008) 820, 3 December 2008) and the European Commission's Proposal for a recast of the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the establishment of 'Eurodac' for the comparison of fingerprints for the effective application of [the Dublin II Regulation] (COM(2008) 825, 3 December 2008)

http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/49c0ca922.html

In these comments, UNHCR notes that a basic assumption underlying the Dublin system is not yet fulfilled - namely, that asylum-seekers should enjoy equivalent levels of procedural and substantive protection in all Member States. In some cases, demonstrated failures to respect the rights of Dublin returnees have been so significant that UNHCR has been compelled to recommend that asylum applicants should not be transferred to certain participating states. For these reasons, UNHCR welcomes the EC's initiative to propose amendments to the Dublin instruments in order to "ensure that the needs of applicants for international protection are comprehensively addressed", including in "situations where there is an inadequate level of protection", as well as to enhance "efficiency" and deal with situations in which Member States do not have the capacity to deal with a significant number or sudden increase of asylum applications. In UNHCR's view, these goals can be pursued concurrently and consistently through appropriate amendments to the current instruments. In particular, greater efficiency need not and should not be sought at the expense of applicants' basic rights, through reducing or eliminating safeguards.

The "Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an application for international protection lodged in one of the Member States by a third-country national or a stateless person (Recast) (COM(2008) 820 final)" is available in Refworld at:

http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/493e8e3a2.html

and the "Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the establishment of 'Eurodac' for the comparison of fingerprints for the effective application of Regulation (EC) No […/…] [establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an application for international protection lodged in one of the Member States by a third-country national or a stateless person]" at http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/493e8d2e2.html.

The new UNHCR Comments are also available at http://www.unhcr.org/eu.