Pursuant to the applicable EU law, Member States may reject the asylum application if the applicant has the possibility of obtaining protection in a safe third country – other than a country of origin or the EU state. Until now, however, a premise was required to provide the relationship between the person applying for asylum with this country, e.g. earlier place of residence or the presence of a close family.
The EC wants to endure this obligation. In a new approach, a sufficient reason to send would be, for example, that the migrant was in a given country only on a journey. Moreover, the person applying for asylum could be sent to a third country even without prior contact with him – it would be enough that the Member State has concluded an appropriate contract with this country. The Commission would have the right to supervise these agreements to ensure their compliance with EU law and protection standards.
In addition, the EC suggests that appeals against the decision to refuse asylum on the basis of the provisions on third countries do not automatically suspend their implementation, as is currently the case.
The Commission explains that the purpose of the changes is to improve the asylum system in countries standing in the face of a large number of migrants.
Meanwhile, human rights defending organizations criticize the proposal. In their opinion, this is another attempt to transfer responsibility by the EU and weakening the protection of refugees. Amnesty International estimated that “sending people to countries with which they have no connections, support system and perspectives (…) is not only chaotic and arbitrary, but also human destructive.”
