The UN High Commission for Refugees has expressed renewed “concerns” about the draft Directive on asylum procedures, on which the European Parliament must still express its own opinion before being formally adopted by the European Council. The Directive regulates the procedures through which asylum applications should be assessed. The UNHCR, which already commented adversely on the text last April, has renewed its concerns in recent days, in a 59-page document with 96 observations: “If some of the provisions contained in the Directive were to be incorporated in the national legislations of States without further guarantees it observes they could give rise to violations of international law”. www.unhcr.ch
