EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS

 

Interim measures granted suspending the transfer of asylum seekers to Greece

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) granted interim measures under Rule 39 suspending the transfer of three asylum seekers in Denmark to Greece under the Dublin II Regulation. Recently Denmark revised its policy concerning returns to Greece and resumed transfers there. This was the first time where the Court applied interim measures in a Danish asylum case involving a transfer to Greece under the Dublin Regulation. In 2009 and the first quarter of 2010 alone, the ECHR has stopped over 500 returns to Greece from other EU States under Rule 39.

Chair of ECRE's board Andreas Kamm welcomed this decision, and called on Denmark to "immediately stop all returns to Greece, where most of the 20,000 asylum seekers per year end up in the streets without any access to the asylum procedure or social assistance."

 

Source: ECRE Weekly Bulletin 16 July 2010