- The Observer,
- Sunday December 15, 2002
The proposal will mean any new refugees could be deported as soon as their countries of origin are deemed safe for return and without taking into account how long they may have been living in their new country.
The plan, contained in leaked documents from the Council of the European Union, the EU's highest body, aims to keep successful asylum-seekers under review with a view to terminating their status as refugees as soon as possible.
It will not operate retrospectively. The directive, which is trying to define and harmonise refugee rights in all member states, will be passed by next summer.
Refugee groups reacted with outrage to the plans. 'This is deeply disturbing. This is part of a relentless drive to a "Fortress Europe" and the steady removal of refugee rights,' said a spokesman for Refugee Action.
The government-backed Refugee Council also condemned the move. It believes that removing any chance of attaining permanent refugee status is unacceptable. 'Refugees, many of whom have been through very traumatic experiences, need security in order to rebuild their lives. This would help to remove that,' said Richard Williams, an EU expert at the Refugee Council.
The key element of the proposed directive is the change of the word 'may' to 'shall' in a clause governing when EU member states should revoke refugee status. That takes away the right of EU countries to grant permanent refugee status and forces them to revoke such status wherever they can.
The change was agreed in a document dated 27 November and obtained by The Observer. EU officials insisted the document was only a proposal and could be changed before the directive becomes law. 'We are still at the level of discussion,' said Jesus Carmona, spokesman for the Council of the EU.
Home Office sources insisted that, even if the directive did come into force without change, Britain would not seek forcibly to repatriate anyone who had been a long-term refugee. However, refugee groups were sceptical and said refugees would be traumatised by living on 'goodwill' rather than having a legal safety net.
Other changes contained in the document, and in another one dated 26 November, have been criticised by campaigners as breaking the Geneva Convention's obligations of granting refugee status. It says refugee status will not be given to those who committed a 'cruel crime' with a political motive. The definition of what such a crime might be is unclear. That has raised concerns, that people involved in groups, such as the Zimbabwean opposition, that are fighting repressive regimes, would be denied the right to claim asylum.
'Under these rules someone like Nelson Mandela would not have been able to claim refugee status because he was involved with a group that campaigned for an armed struggle against apartheid,' said Professor Steve Peers, of the law department at Essex University.
The proposals are part of a wider effort within the EU to tighten its borders against asylum-seekers, many of whom it says are simple economic migrants. It also wants to standardise the treatment of refugees across the continent to combat 'asylum shopping' whereby incomers pass through several countries to get to the ones they believe offer more benefits.
The EU is preparing several high-profile initiatives aimed at tightening its borders. Royal Navy warships are to patrol the Mediterranean to keep migrants out of Europe from early next year in a six-nation operation dubbed Ulysses.
