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EU: Family reunification

01 May 1993

Commentary on Draft Conclusions of European ministers responsible for immigration affairs meeting in London on 30.11.92 and the not yet adopted Resolution concerning Family Reunification.

Standing committee of experts in international immigration, refugee and criminal law, Utrecht, April 1993, 65pp. The ungainly title of this publication has the merit of telling you exactly what you get: a closely argued critique of the work of the London ministers, meeting (see Statewatch vol 3 no 1). The resolutions and conclusions on asylum, the recommendation on expulsion and the draft resolution on family reunification are subjected to detailed and fundamental criticisms, of which the main ones are that they have no regard to the rights protected by the Geneva Convention or the European Convention on Human Rights, that the wording of each document is vague, that the documents have no clear legal status, that they incorporate no mechanism for uniform legal control and demonstrate and perpetuate a complete lack of accountability for the executive.

At the end of each section there is a series of model parliamentary questions, to be asked of each government which participated in agreeing the measures. These are very useful, detailed and challenging, and should be taken up in the British and other national parliaments. The Commentary ends with the authors' own suggested draft articles on which the law of asylum can be based, incorporating recommendations from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), and a list of international instruments on the protection of family life.