Case summaries
The conditions for applying an exclusion clause can be fulfilled without considering if there are grounds for granting protection.
The right to family life can outweigh the ‘state responsibility’ criteria in the Dublin II Regulation. The Court held that the application for asylum should be processed in Sweden, in order to secure the right to family and private life (Art 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights), despite the fact that another State was responsible under the Dublin II Regulation.
Expulsion by France of two nationals of Belarus whose asylum claims had been rejected would amount to a violation of Article 3.
The applicant and her husband were both Ethiopian nationals who had their asylum applications in Switzerland definitively rejected, but were unable to return. The Swiss authorities refused the applicant’s requests to be transferred to her husband’s canton, leading to approximately 5 years separation.
The Court found a violation of their Article 8 right to respect for family life, as the measure had not been necessary in a democratic society.
The applicant and her husband were both Ethiopian nationals who had their asylum applications in Switzerland definitively rejected, but were unable to return. The Swiss authorities refused the applicant’s requests to be transferred to her husband’s canton, leading to approximately 5 years separation.
The Court found a violation of their Article 8 right to respect for family life, as the measure had not been necessary in a democratic society.
The French authorities shall use the sovereignty clause in the Dublin Regulation, under the judge’s supervision, when the rules that determine responsibility of a member state for the asylum procedure may infringe on international and national rights guaranteed to refugees and applicants for asylum. In this case a transfer order to Hungary, where the applicant had on two occasions been detained in unsuitable conditions, was held to be an unlawful infringement of the applicant’s right to asylum.
In this case, the Austrian Asylum Court held the decision of the Federal Asylum Office not to grant refugee status to the applicant’s child was a violation of Austrian asylum law since the child’s father had been granted refugee status. The Court also held a separation of the newborn child from its mother violates Art 8 ECHR and, therefore, the applicant’s asylum application has to be admitted to the procedure on the merits.
In a decision on whether the return of an unaccompanied minor to Hungary under the Dublin Regulation is unlawful in light of Art. 3 ECHR and therefore the sovereignty clause should be used, Art. 24(2) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union(CFRU – best interest of the child as a primary consideration for authorities) is significant.
The CALL ruled that the Qualification Directive, with reference to the grounds for revocation, clearly shows a difference between the various types of protection and that there is no indication that the Belgian legislator wished to deviate from this. Subsidiary protection can be revoked on the basis of a “serious crime” committed after protection was granted.
The court confirmed in this case that the assessment framework of Art 4:6 of the General Administrative Law Act, in relation to subsequent asylum applications, is in conformity with the Asylum Procedures Directive.