Survey of the right of asylum in the EC [1991]
01 January 1991
Survey of the right of asylum in the EC [1991]
bacdoc August=1992
"Survey of the right of asylum in the Community Member States
as at 1 October 1991"
[Survey by the Directorate of Research of the European
Parliament presented to the Civil Liberties and Interna
Affairs Committee of the EP, 1992. COMMENT: In some cases the
survey is based on what governments say they do rather than
the actual practice]
Introduction
All the Member States are signatory to the Geneva Convention
relating the Status of Refugees of 28 July 1951, hence bound
by Article 33 thereof prohibiting the expulsion or return of
refugees. Under this article, no Contracting State shall expel
or return a refugee to the frontiers of a territory where his
life or freedom would be threatened on account race, religion,
nationality, membership of a particular social group or
political opinion. The various Member States have implemented
this convention at national level in totally different ways.
1. Belgium:
a. Legal basis: The Belgian Constitution contains no
provisions on the right of asylum. Arrangements for asylum
seekers are governed by the general legal provisions for
aliens contained in the Act of 15 December 1980 on access to
the territory and the residence, establishment, and removal of
aliens (see Annex). The provisions on the right of asylum
contained in this law were greatly tightened up in February
1988 (see Article 48 ff.).
b. Entry: Provisions on the right of asylum have been
tightened up particularly in respect of entry. As a result,
the Minister of Justice is empowered to refuse entry in the
following cases (see Article 52): if the alien can be
considered as constituting a danger to public safety and
order; if application for asylum has obviously been for
obviously other, inadmissible motives; if the applicant is in
possession of a valid ticket for transport to a third country;
if he has already been resident in a third country for more
than 3 months, if he has already been expelled or returned. As
a rule, the decision to refuse entry must be taken within 24
hours. Various legal channels of appeal are available against
such a decision, depending on whether the decision has been
taken by the aliens' registration authorities or the Ministry
of Justice.
c. Application for asylum: The decision on admissibility of an
application for asylum is taken by the Minister of Justice. A
General Commission for Refugees and Stateless Persons has
recently been set up to assess refugees' motives in leaving
their country. It reaches its decisions in accordance with the
provisions of the Geneva Convention on Refugees (Article 48).
d. Appeal: Applicants for asylum can appeal against rejection
of their application to the Standing Appeals Committee for
Refugees (Commission permanente de recours des refugies)
(Article 57/11). An appeal against this body's decision can be
lodged with the Council of State but does not justify a stay
in proceedings.
2.Denmark
a. Legal basis: The Danish Constitution contains no provisions
on the right of asylum. The legal basis for recognition as a
refugee is Article 226 of the Aliens Act of 8 June 1983, which
has since been amended and tightened up on several occasions.
b. Entry; Under rules introduced in 1986, foreigners may be
refused entry if they are not In possession of the necessary
documents. c. Application for asylum: The Aliens' Registration
Office is responsible for the recognition of refugees; d.
Appeal: An appeal against rejection leading to a stay in
proceedings may be lodged with the Refugees' Office which
proceeds along the same lines as a court of law. If the
Aliens' Registration Office classifies the application as
obviously unfounded, however, the appeal does not justify a
stay in proceedings and it is even possible for the Aliens'
Registration Office to rule out appeal. In practice, however,
foreigners are tolerated in large numbers even in c