Conferentie over Europees asielsysteem (en)
Jerzy Miller, Minister of Interior and Administration, has taken part in a conference devoted to Challenges Facing the development of a Common European Asylum System.
The conference was one of the events being held as part of Poland’s EU Council Presidency in connection with the 60th anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Convention on Refugee Status (28th July 1951).
This is a fundamental document regulating the conditions for granting international protection known as refugee status. It lays down both the rights of refugees as well as the duties of the state granting protection. This document is binding in 145 states and regulates protection standards at the international level.
Minister Miller congratulated representatives of the EU states’ immigration services on the huge amount of work they have performed over the past 60 years. ‘The Convention has become the basis for the EU’s functioning in the field of asylum,’ Minister Miller remarked.
In the realm of internal affairs, work on a Common European Asylum System (CEAS) is one of the priorities of the Polish Presidency of the European Union Council. This matter will also be discussed by interior ministers of European Union states at an informal meeting in Sopot on 18th July.
The conference was hosted by Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Interior and Administration, Piotr Stachanczyk. Participating were also The EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs Cecilia Malmström i, representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee Affairs, the European Commission, general directors of European countries’ immigration services, representatives of EU institutions and international organisations as well as non-governmental organisations involved with the asylum issue. Also present were representatives of the academic community and judges presiding over refugee cases. Following the conference, a publication containing articles written on the basis of lectures delivered during the conference will be issued.
The conference provided an opportunity to reflect upon the functioning of the Geneva Convention during its 60 years of application. It was seen as an important instrument of humanitarian law, which has mapped out the direction for measures protecting the persecuted. Conference participants highly rated the Convention as well as the achievements and activities of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee Affairs in aiding refugees and developing a system of refugee protection. Starting as a small institution, it has evolved into an international organisation of world-wide significance. The conference reaffirmed the significance and currency of the Geneva Convention as the basis for the creation of a Common European Asylum System. It was acknowledged that the EU was well on the way to creating such a system, although that will require the active cooperation and consensus as regards the adoption of the necessary legal instruments. The Common Asylum System should ensure the same form of protection, including refugee status, in every EU Member State, regardless of where the application was submitted.
Also discussed at the conference were problems arising out of the application of the EU’s asylum achievements within the context of Human Rights Tribunal rulings. That referred in particular to the premises of granting supplementary protection and transferring asylum seekers between EU Members States in line with what is known as the Dublin Procedures.
The conference participants agreed that the Dublin system, despite its weaknesses, is an indispensable instrument and that the proposal to suspend its application should be approached with caution. It was likewise agreed that work on the currently discussed EU packet of legal acts pertaining to asylum should be stepped up in order to complete the creation of the Common European Asylum System in 2012.