Suchergebnisse

International audience ; Research conducted in the years 2000 before the central and eastern European enlargements has shown that the EU used readmission agreements and the notion of safe third country to shift the burden of asylum cases to its Eastern neighbours. Several authors now claim that the EU is repeating this practice in the new neighbouring states such as Ukraine. This cannot be completely confirmed by the present contribution. The EU has indeed concluded a readmission agreement with Ukraine which allows the EU to lawfully extradite irregular migrants to Ukraine. Legally, this agreement cannot be applied for asylum seekers in violation of the Geneva Refugee Convention. However, the readmission agreement facilitates unlawful practices of Slovak border guards who refuse to register asylum seekers and send them back to Ukraine through the accelerated procedure. There are hints, that such unlawful practices are even more facilitated by joint patrols of Slovak and Ukrainian border guards. Joint patrols of border guards at EU borders are strongly supported by the EU and are likely to be expanded in the future. The consequences of joint patrols at EU borders for the right to seek asylum in the EU need to be further investigated. The second instrument which had been used by EU member states for the externalisation of asylum cases to CEECs is the notion of safe third country. This notion is not used to send asylum seekers back to Ukraine though. Indeed, Slovak border guards do not refer to this notion to legitimise the extradition of asylum seekers as they deny that they send asylum seekers back and do not record the wish to apply for asylum. It is possible that EU member states are not officially using the notion of safe third country for Ukraine given the normative power of UNHCR which regularly warns that Ukraine should not be considered a safe third country.However, the EU might apply other means in order to keep asylum seekers in Ukraine and prevent them from reaching the EU so that the above mentioned ...

International audience ; Research conducted in the years 2000 before the central and eastern European enlargements has shown that the EU used readmission agreements and the notion of safe third country to shift the burden of asylum cases to its Eastern neighbours. Several authors now claim that the EU is repeating this practice in the new neighbouring states such as Ukraine. This cannot be completely confirmed by the present contribution. The EU has indeed concluded a readmission agreement with Ukraine which allows the EU to lawfully extradite irregular migrants to Ukraine. Legally, this agreement cannot be applied for asylum seekers in violation of the Geneva Refugee Convention. However, the readmission agreement facilitates unlawful practices of Slovak border guards who refuse to register asylum seekers and send them back to Ukraine through the accelerated procedure. There are hints, that such unlawful practices are even more facilitated by joint patrols of Slovak and Ukrainian border guards. Joint patrols of border guards at EU borders are strongly supported by the EU and are likely to be expanded in the future. The consequences of joint patrols at EU borders for the right to seek asylum in the EU need to be further investigated. The second instrument which had been used by EU member states for the externalisation of asylum cases to CEECs is the notion of safe third country. This notion is not used to send asylum seekers back to Ukraine though. Indeed, Slovak border guards do not refer to this notion to legitimise the extradition of asylum seekers as they deny that they send asylum seekers back and do not record the wish to apply for asylum. It is possible that EU member states are not officially using the notion of safe third country for Ukraine given the normative power of UNHCR which regularly warns that Ukraine should not be considered a safe third country.However, the EU might apply other means in order to keep asylum seekers in Ukraine and prevent them from reaching the EU so that the above mentioned ...