‘Safe state’ plans on asylum divide EU

By David Cronin

Date: 10/11/04

EFFORTS to create a list of countries from which it would be impossible to claim asylum in the EU are to be blocked after disagreements between member states on which countries are deemed safe.

The Dutch government, which holds the presidency of the Council of Ministers, was hoping that an agreement on a "common list of safe countries of origin" could be reached when EU justice ministers meet on 19 November.

The idea would be to permit immigration authorities to rule applications from asylum- seekers unfounded where the applicants came from countries judged not to abuse human rights.

But securing an accord on which countries to list has divided EU states.

Sweden and Belgium are known to have voiced particular concerns. Sweden is perturbed that torture and female genital mutilation occur in several of the countries under consideration, although Belgium has requested greater scrutiny of whether certain countries meet the relevant criteria.

France, on the other hand, is considered the member state most insistent that a list be approved.

A French diplomat said that Paris had pioneered the idea of naming safe countries of origin and wanted it adopted as soon as possible.

Dick Oosting, director of Amnesty International's Brussels office, accused the EU of "double standards" if it declared as safe those countries with recognized human rights problems.

The asylum working party at the Council of Ministers recently completed an evaluation of ten countries: Chile, Benin, Botswana, Cape Verde, Costa Rica, Ghana, Mali, Mauritius, Senegal and Uruguay.

Its report, seen by European Voice, concludes that seven of them may be labelled "safe", while Chile, Costa Rica and Uruguay should not be included on the proposed list because there is generally only a small number of asylum applications to EU states from Latin American nationals.

Assessing the other seven, it notes concern about child labour in Cape Verde and Ghana and the absence of a law against ritual female genital mutilation (FGM) in Mali.

Up to 95% of women in the south-eastern part of Mali are affected by FGM, it finds, while the practice is also widespread in parts of Benin and Ghana.

The report cites evidence of problems ranging from the inability of police to curb mob justice and vigilantism to corruption in the judiciary and unhealthy prison conditions in the seven countries.

But it finds that such problems as torture or persecution do not occur in "any general way".

In the Spring, EU justice ministers agreed to the principle that a common list of safe countries should be adopted at the same time as a proposed directive on asylum procedures.

EU diplomats are now mooting the possibility that the directive might be approved at the 19 November meeting, without the accompanying list of safe countries of origin.

At present, the list would need the unanimous backing of member states to come into effect across the Union. But under an accord reached at last week's summit of EU leaders, asylum dossiers will be decided by qualified majority voting from April next year.

"This question of a list is the toughest nut we have had to crack so far," said a diplomat handling asylum issues. "I'm not sure that we are going to crack it yet."

EU governments have already agreed that an asylum-seeker from a country deemed safe could appeal against the presumption of safety.

But pro-refugee groups are dismayed that this could be done under a fast-track procedure, with the burden of proof placed on the asylum-seeker.

"We don't think you can declare any country as safe for all the people all of the time," said Richard Williams from the European Council on Refugees and Exile (ECRE).

Article reports that a week before the Council meeting of Ministers of Justice on 19 November 2004 there was no agreement between Member States on a 'common list of safe countries of origin' for asylum-seekers. The list was planned to be adopted together with a proposed directive on asylum procedures.