Adequate and fair asylum procedures are a precondition for the effective exercise of rights granted to asylum applicants, in particular the prohibition of refoulement. In 1999 the EU Member States decided to work towards a Common European Asylum System. In this context the Procedures Directive was adopted in 2005 and recast in 2013. This directive provides for important procedural guarantees for asylum applicants, but also leaves much discretion to the EU Member States to design their own asylum procedures. This book examines the meaning of the EU right to an effective remedy in terms of the legality and interpretation of the Procedures Directive in regard to several key aspects of asylum procedure: the right to remain on the territory of the Member State, the right to be heard, the standard and burden of proof and evidentiary assessment, judicial review and the use of secret evidence.

More than a decade has passed since the appearance of the first issue of the European Journal of Migration and Law, which was established to examine the intertwining of issues of law and migration in the EU. This volume has been compiled to celebrate that anniversary. The journal itself is the basis for the book: authors who have written the most significant contributions for the journal on the relevant issues to the Area of Freedom Security and Justice (AFSJ) have revised and updated their articles in light of current developments. These are supplemented with new chapters on issues which have turned out to be particularly important to the development of the field. The success of the journal has demonstrated the need for informed, independent academic research on the changing nature of immigration and asylum in Europe, and this volume too seeks to meet that need. It offers a unqiue and lively collection of essays covering the field of EU immigration and asylum law from a variety of perspectives.

Evidentiary assessment holds a central position in all forms of judicial decision-making. Also the asylum procedure is dependent on solutions made in theory and practice regarding evidentiary issues. This book explores the particular framework of evidentiary assessment in selected European appellate asylum procedures and discusses the relationship between these procedures, on the one hand, and between these procedures and other legal systems, including the EU legal order, on the other. Conclusions are made regarding the similarities and differences between the German, English and Finnish asylum procedures and the position and impact of European legal norms on the national procedures. The book further discusses possibilities for harmonization and the future work towards a Common European Asylum System.

The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union enshrines the key political, social and economic rights of EU citizens and residents in EU law. In its present form it was approved in 2000 by the European Parliament, the Council of Ministers and the European Commission. However its legal status remained uncertain until the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon in December 2009. The Charter obliges the EU to act and legislate consistently with the Charter, and enables the EU's courts to strike down EU legislation which contravenes it. The Charter applies to EU Member States when they are implementing EU law but does not extend the competences of the EU beyond the competences given to it in the treaties. This Commentary on the Charter, the first in English, written by experts from several EU Member States, provides an authoritative but succinct statement of how the Charter impacts upon EU, domestic and international law. Following the conventional article-by-article approach, each commentator offers an expert view of how each article is either already being interpreted in the courts, or is likely to be interpreted. Each commentary is referenced to the case law and is augmented with extensive references to further reading. Six cross-cutting introductory chapters explain the Charter's institutional anchorage, its relationship to the Fundamental Rights Agency, its interaction with other parts of international human rights law, the enforcement mechanisms, extraterritorial scope, and the all-important 'Explanations'.

This important Research Handbook provides a holistic analysis of the development of the European Union’s migration and asylum policies. It comprehensively examines facets of each policy, including insights from cutting-edge research and an in-depth analysis of their development, whilst also identifying future policy orientation.

This book, edited by Vincent Chetail, Philippe De Bruycker and Francesco Maiani, is aimed at analysing the recent changes of the Common European Asylum System, the progress achieved and the remaining flaws. The overall objective and key added value of this volume are to provide a comprehensive and critical account of the recast instruments governing asylum law and policy in the European Union. This book is the outcome of the 7th Congress of the Academic Network for Legal Studies on Immigration and Asylum in Europe held in Brussels in 2014. Contributors are: Hemme Battjes, Céline Bauloz, Ulrike Brandl, Vincent Chetail, Cathryn Costello, Philippe De Bruycker, Madeline Garlick, Elspeth Guild, Emily Hancox, Lyra Jakuleviciene, Francesco Maiani, Barbara Mikołajczyk, Géraldine Ruiz, Evangelia (Lilian) Tsourdi, Patricia Van De Peer and Jens Vedsted-Hansen.

The book undertakes a thorough human rights assessment of the EU Returns Directive. The overarching human rights framework, which circumscribes states prerogatives in the context of expulsion, builds upon obligations derived from the principle of non-refoulement; the right to life, respect for family and private life, effective remedy, basic social rights; the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment; and protection against arbitrary detention and collective expulsion. Based on this assessment, Majcher explores several protection gaps in the EU return policy which may result in violations of migrants’ rights and highlights how the provisions of the Directive should be implemented in line with member states’ human rights obligations. Informed by this assessment, the book discusses amendments to the Directive, proposed by the European Commission in September 2018. “By examining the European Union (EU) Returns Directive in the light of international and European human rights law, Izabella Majcher thoroughly explores and analyses the requirements the EU member states’ authorities must guarantee migrants in an irregular situation when they adopt and implement return decisions, entry bans, pre-removal detention, and removal.” Marie-Laure Basilien-Gainche, Professor of public international law, University Jean Moulin Lyon 3, Honorary member of the Institut universitaire de France

Seeking asylum in the European Union (EU) today is as complex as the EU asylum system itself: the different forms of protection that exist do not remain easily accessible and are sometimes not tailored to the specific protection needs of asylum-seekers. The aim of this volume is to provide critical analyses of selected problems that scholars and policy-makers will have to address in the ‘second phase’ of the Common European Asylum System. A broad range of issues are examined relating to access to and qualification for international protection and the further problems raised by this amended set of asylum instruments which continue to impede asylum-seekers from benefiting from effective protection in EU Member States. With a foreword by Professor Hélène Lambert.

This ambitious, innovative project examines the principle of effective judicial protection in EU law over two volumes. The principle of effective judicial protection is a cornerstone of the EU's judicial system and is re-affirmed in Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. Since the 1980s the Court of Justice has used the principle to shape EU and national procedural rules; more recently, the principle has acquired an even more central role in the EU constitutional structure. In this first volume, an expert team explores how the Court of Justice has interpreted the principle, as expressed in particular by Article 47 of the Charter, in selected policy areas, and reflects on the impact of the principle on the EU's constitutional structure. Addressing key questions such as legal certainty, judicial independence and procedural autonomy, this volume significantly adds to our understanding of judicial protection within the multi-level EU judicial architecture.

This monograph could not be more timely, as discourses relating to refugees' access to territory, rescue at sea, push-back, and push-back by proxy dominate political debate. Looking at the questions which lie at the junction of migration control and refugee law standards, it explores the extent to which readmission can hamper refugees' access to protection. Though it draws mainly on European law, notably the European Convention on Human Rights, it also examines other international frameworks, including those employed by the United Nations and instruments such as the Refugee Convention. Therefore, this book is of importance to readers of international law, refugee law, human rights and migration studies at the global level. It offers an analysis of both the legal and policy questions at play, and engages fully with widely-disputed cases concerning readmission agreements, deportation with assurances and interception at sea. By so doing, this book seeks to clarify a complex field which has at times suffered from partiality in both its terminology and substance.