Border Procedures in the European Union: How the Pact Ignored the Compacts
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. The Integrated Border Procedure in the Pact
3. European Legislation on Border Procedure: Led by Facts or Myths?
4. Access to the Procedure and Pushbacks at External Borders
5. Quality of the Asylum Procedure including Identification of Persons with Special Needs
6. Systematic and De Facto Detention
7. What Is the Potential Role of the Global Compacts in Improving the Situation?
Author Contributions
Funding
Conflicts of Interest
References
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1 | Frontex, News Release, ‘Migratory situation at EU’s borders in September: Increase on the Central Mediterranean and Western Balkan routes’ (15 October 2021). |
2 | See, for example, Fundamental Rights Agency, Migration: Key Fundamental Rights Concerns, Bulletin 2-2021 (24 September 2021), UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Report on means to address the human rights impact of pushbacks of migrants on land and at sea (12 May 2021), (EPRS 2020). |
3 | Communication from the Commission on a New Pact on Migration and Asylum, COM(2020) 609 final, p. 1. |
4 | COM(2020)609 final, p. 4. |
5 | United Nations General Assembly, Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, Resolution 73/195, Adopted by the General Assembly on 19 December 2018 (henceforth referred to as GCM). |
6 | Report of the United Nationals High Commissioner for Refugees. Part II. Global Compact on Refugees, UN Doc. A/73/12 (Part II), New York: United Nations (henceforth referred to as GCR). |
7 | See GCM, paras. 1 and 2 and GCR, para. 5. |
8 | The Communication of the Commission about the New Pact (COM(2020) 609 final), the Proposal for a Screening Regulation (COM(2020) 612 final) and the Proposal for an amended Asylum Procedures Regulation (COM(2020) 611 final) do not refer to the Global Compacts. |
9 | GCM para. 17, GCR paras. 45–48. |
10 | See also ‘Whose Pact? The Cognitive Dimensions of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum’ (Carrera 2020, p. 5) and ‘Admissibility, Border Procedures and Safe Country Notions’(Vedsted-Hansen 2020, p. 174), both in: (Carrera and Geddes 2021). |
11 | GCR, paras. 58 and 61. |
12 | GCM, para. 29 and GCR, para. 60. |
13 | Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council introducing a screening of third country nationals at the external borders and amending Regulations (EC) No 767/2008, (EU) 2017/2226, (EU) 2018/1240 and (EU) 2019/817, COM(2020) 612 final, Art 1 under a and b. |
14 | Ibid., Art 4. |
15 | Ibid., Art 6(3). |
16 | Ibid., Art 13. |
17 | Amended proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a common procedure for international protection in the Union and repealing Directive 2013/32/EU, COM(2020) 611 final, Art 41(6). In this particular respect, the proposed border procedure is similar to the current border procedure in Art 43 Asylum Procedures Directive (2013/32/EU). |
18 | COM(2020) 611 final, Art 41(3) linking it to the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a common procedure for international protection in the Union and repealing Directive 2013/32/EU, COM(2016) 467 final, Art 40(1), which provides for cases in which accelerated procedures may be used to decide on the merits of an asylum applications. |
19 | COM(2020) 611 final, Art 41a (1) and (2). |
20 | Ibid., Art 41a(2). |
21 | However, if capacity becomes stretched, Member States may resort to the use of other locations within their territory. See COM(2020) 611 final, Art 41a(2). |
22 | COM(2020) 611 final, Art 41a (2). |
23 | Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council addressing situations of crisis and force majeure in the field of migration and asylum, COM(2020) 613 final, Art 1. The crisis shall be of such a scale and nature that it would render a Member State’s asylum, reception or return system non-functional and would risk having serious consequences for the functioning of, or result in the impossibility of applying, the Common European Asylum System and the migration management system of the Union. |
24 | COM(2020) 619 final, Art 4(1) (a). |
25 | Ibid., Artt 4 and 5. |
26 | COM(2020) 611 final. |
27 | Ibid. |
28 | (Kraly and Hovy 2020). (United Nations 2018) United Nations. 2018. Globle Compact on Refugees. New York. Available online: https://www.unhcr.org/5c658aed4 (accessed on 11 April 2022). |
29 | GCM, para. 17. |
30 | GCR, para. 45. |
31 | Directive 2013/32/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on common procedures for granting and withdrawing international protection, Art 43. |
32 | See EU: Independent Monitoring Mechanism on EU borders must ensure fundamental rights and accountability (Amnesty International 2020) |
33 | European Parliament, Report on the implementation of Article 43 of Directive 2013/32/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on common procedures for granting and withdrawing international protection (2020/2047 (INI)), LIBE Committee, Erik Marquardt as rapporteur. |
34 | Note that the Commission has proposed to enhance monitoring in the New Pact on Migration and Asylum. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on a New Pact on Migration and Asylum, COM(2020) 609 final. |
35 | GCR, para. 5. |
36 | GCM, para. 27, GCR, para. 58. |
37 | GCR, para. 58. |
38 | See notes 27 above. |
39 | Art 19 Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (the Charter). See also Art 21 of Directive 2011/95/EU (Qualification Directive). |
40 | Art 78 TFEU and 18 of the Charter. |
41 | COM(2020) 612 final. |
42 | See notes 37 above. |
43 | COM(2020) 612 final, Art 13 and 14. |
44 | GCR, para. 56. |
45 | (EPRS 2020, pp 93–94, 206). See also ‘Update of the 2016 Opinion of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights on fundamental rights in the ‘hotspots’ set up in Greece and Italy’ (Fundamental Rights Agency 2019). |
46 | COM(2020) 619 final, Article 6, by derogation from the four working days in Article 27 of the proposal for an amended Asylum Procedures Regulation (COM(2016) 467 final). |
47 | COM(2020) 619 final, p. 3. |
48 | CJEU Case C-808/18 Commission v Hungary [2020] paras. 102–6. |
49 | GCR, para. 51. |
50 | COM(2020) 612 final, p. 3. |
51 | UNHCR Handbook on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees, para. 189. See also (Cantor 2015). |
52 | Directive 2013/32/EU. |
53 | GCR, para. 61. |
54 | GCR, paras. 61–62. |
55 | Directive 2013/32/EU, Preamble Recital 38, affirmed by CJEU in Joined Cases C-924/19 PPU and C-925/19 PPU FMS [2020] para. 236. |
56 | Directive 2013/32/EU, Art 31(8). |
57 | COM(2020) 611 final, Art 41(3). |
58 | ‘Admissibility, Border Procedures and Safe Country Notions’ (Vedsted-Hansen 2020), in: (Carrera and Geddes 2021). |
59 | COM(2020) 611 final, p. 5.; ‘Admissibility, Border Procedures and Safe Country Notions’ (Vedsted-Hansen 2020), in: (Carrera and Geddes 2021). |
60 | COM(2016) 467 final, p. 47. |
61 | COM(2016) 467 final, p. 21 and p. 28. |
62 | This includes (unaccompanied and separated) children; women at risk; survivors of torture, trauma, trafficking in persons, sexual and gender-based violence, sexual exploitation and abuse or harmful practices; persons with medical needs or disabilities; those who are illiterate; adolescents and youth; and older persons. |
63 | GCR, paras. 59–60. |
64 | COM(2020) 611 final, pp. 11, 14–15, 17, 27. |
65 | See notes 12 above. |
66 | COM(2020) 611 final, Art 41(6) and (13). |
67 | COM(2016) 467 final, p. 15 and COM(2013) 411 final, p. 4. |
68 | Ibid, pp. 89–90. |
69 | See notes 27 above. |
70 | See, for example, ECRE, Comments on the Commission Proposal for a Screening Regulation COM(2020) 612 (2020). |
71 | See notes 44 above. |
72 | GCR, para. 53. See also GCR, paras. 4, 9 and 21 and GCM, paras. 14, 39 and 42. |
73 | GCR, para. 4, emphasis added. |
74 | Guild et al. (2019) argue that due to the friction between the application of human rights to everyone and the political sensitivities of certain states, the implementation of the Global Compacts depends upon partnerships with non-state actors. See also ‘The UN Global Compacts and the Common European Asylum System: Coherence or Friction?’ (Guild et al. 2022). |
75 | Draft Report on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council introducing a screening of third-country nationals at the external borders and amending Regulations (EC) No 767/2008, (EU) 2017/2226, (EU) 2018/1240 and (EU) 2019/817 (COM(2020)0612—C9-0307/2020—2020/0278(COD)), p. 85. |
76 | Draft Report on the implementation of Article 43 of Directive 2013/32/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on common procedures for granting and withdrawing international protection (2020/2047(INI)), pp. 6 and 10. |
77 | UNHCR, EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, cit., pp. 3–4. |
78 | See notes 67 above. |
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Cornelisse, G.; Reneman, M. Border Procedures in the European Union: How the Pact Ignored the Compacts. Laws 2022, 11, 38. https://doi.org/10.3390/laws11030038
Cornelisse G, Reneman M. Border Procedures in the European Union: How the Pact Ignored the Compacts. Laws. 2022; 11(3):38. https://doi.org/10.3390/laws11030038
Chicago/Turabian StyleCornelisse, Galina, and Marcelle Reneman. 2022. "Border Procedures in the European Union: How the Pact Ignored the Compacts" Laws 11, no. 3: 38. https://doi.org/10.3390/laws11030038