The Right to Benefit from an Effective Remedy against Decisions Implying the Return of Asylum-seekers to European Safe Countries

Abstract:

During the first phase of the CEAS, the CJEU considered that asylum-seekers had only limited opportunities to appeal against decisions to transfer them to other European countries based on the Dublin system. This interpretation was contrary to the right to an effective remedy enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights and recognised as a principle of EU Law.

With the second phase of the CEAS, the CJEU ruled on two judgements in June 2016 (Ghezelbash and Karim) in which asylum-seekers benefited from the right to an effective remedy against Dublin transfer decisions. The scope of the judicial review was not limited to cases where there was a risk of being subjected to inhuman treatment as a result of ‘systemic deficiencies’ in the procedures and reception conditions in the receiving country. This article argues that this shift in the jurisprudence of the CJEU restores asylum-seekers’ status as subjects of EU Law.