The EU is nowhere near implementing the burden sharing regime on immigration, which Malta has been lobbying for, according to the Council of Europe’s Human Rights Commissioner, Thomas Hammarberg.
Scolding northern EU member states for resisting the much needed changes in the way the EU deals with asylum, Mr Hammerberg warned the situation was becoming very serious and accused the resisting member states of disrespecting the rights of asylum seekers.
“States in northern Europe, far from the borders in the south and the east, have so far not been co-operative in discussions about resolving this mess,” he said.
On the insistence of Malta and other southern EU member states, the European Commission two years ago moved to change the so-called Dublin II rules so they could be suspended in case of member states being overwhelmed with asylum seekers.
The rules oblige the country where migrants land to process their asylum applications. Instead, Malta and other southern states have been lobbying to be able to transfer some migrants to other EU countries where they could remain until their asylum application is processed.
However, despite several EU meetings over the past years, little progress has been made because many northern member states, which are not directly affected by the problem, resisted the proposed changes.
In fact, the Commission is still stuck at the stage of negotiations between governments even though MEPs approved the proposed changes.
Mr Hammerberg, whose organisation does not form part of the EU and can only exert pressure, said the present Dublin system had collapsed and called for the issue to be addressed without further delay.
“The gravely dysfunctional asylum procedures in Greece have brought the Dublin system to a genuine collapse and lessons must be drawn from this breakdown,” he said. “EU states need to halt all transfers of asylum seekers back to countries where they face enormous difficulties in gaining access to the asylum procedure and where they do not enjoy basic safeguards such as interpretation and legal aid.”
During the past year, many asylum seekers, aware of the problems in Greece and other overburdened member states, appealed against their repatriation, leading to a backlog at the national courts and the European Court of Human Rights.
During 2009-2010 the Strasbourg Court heard no fewer than 700 cases involving asylum seekers asking for their transfers to be suspended.
“Europe should do better in terms of refugee protection. A fair and efficient system that would fully guarantee the human rights of asylum seekers in Europe is still wanting. The Dublin regulation should be revised as soon as possible in order to put an end to this situation,” Mr Hammerberg said.