Activity report on the Centre for Information, Discussion and Exchange on Asylum (Cirea) for 1996 (Text approved by the Council on 26 May 1997) (97/C 191/06)

During the course of 1996 the Centre for Information, Discussion and Exchange on Asylum (Cirea) met eight times on:

- 16 January,

- 26 February,

- 3 May,

- 2 and 3 July,

- 3 September,

- 30 September,

- 28 October,

- 5 December.

Two types of work were put in hand within Cirea: on the one hand, the pursuit of its mandate in the matter of exchange of information, and on the other hand, reflection on Cirea's working methods.

In addition, in the context of the Transatlantic Dialogue, a meeting between experts from Cirea and the United States of America was set up to exchange information on asylum.

I. EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION

1. Legislation, regulations, jurisprudence of the Member States in asylum matters

Belgium, Spain, Ireland, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom informed Cirea of modifications to their legislation which came into force during 1996, in relation to which commentaries or copies of the new texts have been circulated:

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Revisions are in hand in Denmark, Greece, the Netherlands and Sweden. Sweden sent two notes to Cirea - a summary of a report to the Swedish Government by the Parliamentary Refugee Policy Commission and a summary of Government Bill 1996/97:25 relating to Swedish migration policy in a global perspective.

In addition, at the initiative of the Slovak Mission to the European Union, Cirea received a copy of the Refugee Act adopted on 14 November 1995 by the Slovak Parliament.

Finally, Germany sent Cirea an analysis note on the findings of the Federal Constitutional Court of 14 May 1996 concerning the new asylum regulations, in which the Constitutional Court determined that the new provisions of asylum law relating to safe third countries, to safe countries of origin and to the procedure applicable at airports were compatible with the German Constitution.

2. Statistics

The General Secretariat of the Council drew up statistics relating to asylum applications for the second half of 1995, the first quarter of 1996 and the first half of 1996. These contain the data provided by Member States relating to applications and rates of recognition by geographical region and for the top 50 source third countries of asylum applications within the European Union.

Member States also received at each Cirea meeting the latest information available (provisional information) provided by each Member State in accordance with the model set in 1993.

3. Situation in countries of origin of asylum-seekers

(a) Examination within Cirea

Cirea examined the situation of the countries of former Yugoslavia and, in this context, that of Kosovo, in particular, along with Iraq and Somalia. A questionnaire has been sent to Member States with a view to looking at the situation in China in the near future.

For each of the countries, the evaluation has concentrated on:

- the characteristics of applications made (profile of applicant, reasons invoked, means of leaving country of origin, itinerary followed, type and authenticity of documents presented),

- appraisal of applications in accordance with the Geneva Convention (general situation of country - including political situation and respect for human rights - and the practice followed in Member States as regards recognition of applications) and the basic procedure regarding their investigation,

- whether the exclusion or cessation clauses have been applied,

- for refusals, whether applicants can stay in a Member State's territory on the basis of some other reason, or be removed (repatriation to regions of the country of origin considered safe, expulsion to third countries, possible practical difficulties linked to expulsion).

Cirea invited the UNHCR to participate in the evaluation of the situation in these countries by providing its own analysis during the course of oral presentations by one of its experts on the countries examined. The UNHCR complemented these oral presentations with written reports to Cirea setting out the background to applications originating in these countries.

(b) CFSP joint reports

At the request of Cirea, the CFSP authorities provided in March 1996 an update of the joint report on Nigeria which had been prepared in February 1995, and in September 1996 a report on the situation of Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

Cirea also sought joint reports on Algeria and on Iraq, but it has not been possible to date to provide these reports having regard to the political situation prevailing at present in those countries.

(c) Missions undertaken by Member States in countries of origin

Cirea was informed of the results of each mission to a third country carried out by a Member State. In this way, Cirea received reports on the situation in Zaire, the Republic of Guinea, Iran, Armenia and North-Eastern and North-Western Somalia.

In 1995 the possibility of carrying out missions involving several Member States had been considered. This occurred in 1996, when one Member State announced its intention of carrying out a mission to Pakistan and was joined by three other Member States. This experience of a 'joint` mission was regarded by each of the participants as extremely positive.

Cirea has also been informed of plans for missions to Bangladesh, to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan, and to Azerbaijan.

4. Other matters dealt with

Various one-off questions, arising either out of the international situation or at the request of individual Member States, have also been dealt with in Cirea, such as:

- the consequences of the signing of the Dayton/Paris accord for the recognition of refugee status for asylum applicants from Bosnia and Herzegovina,

- asylum seekers of Pakistani origin coming from Bangladesh (Beharis),

- the residence situation for stateless persons,

- conditions for expulsion to Côte d'Ivoire,

- the return of citizens of Zaïre, of southern Sudan, of southern Lebanon, where the asylum application has been rejected.

Cirea decided to prepare a list of contact points of persons in Member States who deal with applications for asylum which is to be kept regularly up to date.

The General Secretariat of the Council has circulated a March 1996 update of the compilation of texts on European practice with respect to asylum.

II. REVIEW OF CIREA'S WORKING METHODS

At the start of the Italian Presidency, the heads of organizations responsible within Member States for the recognition of refugee status met for the second time (the first meeting had taken place in June 1995 at the initiative of the French Presidency). In particular, the heads of these organizations, at the initiative of France, asked that an evaluation of the activities of Cirea be undertaken. At its meeting on 8 and 9 July 1996 Steering Group I decided that a review of Cirea's working methods and practices should be carried out.

This evaluation was put in hand under the Irish Presidency, during which it undertook a detailed examination of Cirea's working methods with a view to more effective utilization of the resources of national delegations, of the Commission and of the Council Secretariat. The basis for Cirea's work was a note from the Irish Presidency. This document contains a series of conclusions which are at present under examination by the K.4 Committee.

Other subjects for specific examination are, on the one hand, the creation of a computerized database and, on the other hand, improvement in the collection and organization of asylum statistics. Consideration of these two matters has started.

(a) Database

Cirea agreed not to follow up at this stage on the project to obtain information from UNHCR's database through Cirea; as this information can be obtained directly by each Member State.

At the meeting held within the framewoirk of Cirea on 26 February 1996, the heads of bodies responsible in Member States for granting refugee status considered that the setting-up of a Cirea database might be useful for Member States, provided that information relevant to the use Member States wished to make of it were included. The General Secretariat of the Council was asked to produce a note on the technical feasibility of such a database and its cost, bearing in mind the need for rapid access to information and linguistic problems.

Delegations received a note from the Information Technology Division of the General Secretariat of the Council on the technical aspects of such a database, which has not yet been discussed within Cirea.

The question of which data to include in such a database is still under discussion.

(b) Statistics

Cirea, with a view to improving the existing statistical system, invited the representative of the Commission's statistical service (Statistical Office of the European Communities Eurostat) to bring its experience into this discussion. The European Commission departments circulated to Cirea a working document setting out operations in this area. It was decided that Cirea would concentrate on setting out in detail its requirements with a view to possible assistance from the Commission's statistical service in gathering, presenting and analysing the statistical data on asylum circulated within the Centre.

III. MEETING BETWEEN EXPERTS FROM CIREA AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

In 1996, within the framework of the Transatlantic Dialogue, the decision was taken to establish links between experts on asylum from the United States of America and the European Union, on the basis laid down by Coreper of regular meetings to be held, for practical reasons, back-to-back with Cirea meetings.

The first meeting between experts from both Cirea and the United States was held at the end of 1996, just after the Cirea meeting of 5 December, and, being the first meeting, was chiefly devoted to an exchange of information on Cirea and US activities with respect to asylum.