On the eve of the meeting of the Council of EU ministers of justice and internal affairs on 6 November, Amnesty International denounced the fact that some of the proposals being discussed at this meeting (such as the “Directive of the Council containing minimum norms for the procedures applied in member states with a view to the recognition or withdrawal of refugee status”) risk preventing the access of refugees to effective protection; they include the use of the so-called “list of safe countries of origin”, the use of summary vetting procedures at the frontiers and the recourse to inadequate appeal procedures, in violation of international law on refugees and human rights. Amnesty has therefore transmitted a series of recommendations to EU ministers of justice and internal affairs. “While the common policy of the EU in terms of asylum is beginning to be defined – said Dick Oosting, director of the Amnesty office in Brussels it is clear that the overall situation of refugees who seek refuge in Europe is desolating. The combined effect of the various proposals being examined at the meeting on Thursday is that refugees will encounter obstacles at every stage of their path: when they try to enter the territory of the European Union, when they request asylum in particular countries and when they lodge an appeal”. Amnesty is asking not only for the withdrawal of the list of “safe countries of origin”: it is also asking “that appeal procedures comply with international standards”.
