24/2/2006
EU Common Asylum Policy Should Not Downgrade Standards Says UN Refugee Chief

António Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees delivered a warning in the European Parliament this week telling European leaders that a consistent approach to dealing with millions of refugees should not end up downgrading asylum standards.

While praising Europe’s efforts to develop a common asylum policy and welcoming efforts by the European Union to help strengthen third countries’ ability to protect and assist refugees, Mr Guterres said that this could not be at the expense of Europe’s own responsibility to provide asylum to those who need it. 

“Europe is…and must remain…a  continent of asylum,” said Mr. Guterres, a former Portuguese prime minister who was a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in the early 1980s.

Nearly three months ago, the UN's refugee agency -UNHCR - which Mr Guterres heads,  warned that a controversial EU directive on asylum procedures adopted without discussion by the 25 EU Member States could lead to a downgrading of asylum standards. While UNHCR has supported Europe’s ongoing efforts to harmonise asylum procedures, the refugee agency is particularly concerned about a rule that let member states designate “safe third countries” outside the EU. Asylum-seekers can be turned back to these countries without even having had their claims heard in an EU Member State.

Mr. Guterres said he was pleased that the European Parliament now had a right of co-decision in asylum matters, which means an enhanced role for its Civil Liberties Committee. Previously, Parliament only held a consultative role in the process.

The EU Directive sets common minimum standards in several key areas, including the reception of asylum-seekers, asylum procedures and qualification for refugee status.

As a protection agency, UNHCR’s primary challenges were preserving asylum as population flows become increasingly complex, and stopping the increase in intolerance and exclusion in societies, said Mr. Guterres. “People who are in need of protection should not be forced to turn to human smugglers and traffickers to reach safety,” he said, adding that UNHCR recognized countries’ right to manage their borders and define their migration policies.

UNHCR was ready to help governments find innovative solutions so that their border controls and the ways they manage migration respected the protection of refugees and international law, he said