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Report on the implementation in the European Union of Directive 2003/9/EC laying down minimum standards for the reception of asylum seekers and refugees:visits by the Committee on Civil Liberties 2005-2008

Document number
1945
Date
2009
Title
Report on the implementation in the European Union of Directive 2003/9/EC laying down minimum standards for the reception of asylum seekers and refugees:visits by the Committee on Civil Liberties 2005-2008
Author/publisher
European Parliament, European Union
Availability
View/save PDF version of this document
Document type(s)
EU law,
Keywords
Violence, Human rights violation, Crime against humanity, War crime, Armed conflict, Post-conflict situation, Terrorism, Migrant rights; Migration management; Comprehensive approach to migration; Migration policy; Restrictive migration measures,
Summary

On 21 January, the European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) adopted the report on the ‘implementation in the European Union of Directive 2003/9/EC laying down minimum standards for the reception of asylum seekers and refugees: visits by the Committee on Civil Liberties 2005-2008' drawn up by French MEP, Martine Roure. The own-initiative report is based on the findings of a delegation of the LIBE Committee that has visited reception and detention centres in Italy (Lampedusa), Spain (Ceuta and Melilla, Canary Islands), France (Paris), Malta, Greece, Belgium, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Poland, Denmark and Cyprus. In the report, the LIBE Committee deplores the wide margin of discretion in the implementation by Member States of the Reception Directive. It welcomes the Commission's proposal to amend the Reception Directive (which was published on 3 December last year) that aims to ensure higher standards of treatment for asylum seekers and extends the scope of the directive to persons applying for subsidiary protection. The report calls on Members States to show more solidarity, rather than technical/financial help, with Members States most affected by the challenges of immigration. The report calls for priority to be given to reception of asylum seekers and immigrants in open centres. The Directive should apply to all asylum seekers from the moment they express their request for protection not only when the claim is formally lodged. Furthermore, the report underlines the importance of the right to free interpretation assistance and access to information. Legal assistance should be facilitated as well as sufficient and adequate access to health care and employment. As far as detention is concerned, the report stresses that a person should not be in any event held in detention for the sole reason he/she is seeking international protection and calls on Members States for the detention of minors to be prohibited in principle. The report also urges Member States to provide specialised assistance to vulnerable persons. Finally, the report calls on Member States to apply the Reception Directive to people under the Dublin system.


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