WRITTEN QUESTION E-2643/01

by Yasmine Boudjenah (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(28 September 2001)

Subject: Geneva Convention on the status of refugees

The Geneva Convention of 28 July 1951 relating to the status of refugees, together with the New York Protocol of 31 January 1967, are still the basic instruments for the international protection of refugees. In its declaration of 28 July 2001, the European Union called on all States that have not yet done so to ratify the 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol.

What Member States have not yet ratified the 1951 Convention?

What measures does the Commission propose taking to encourage Member States which have not yet done so to ratify the Convention?

The European Parliament has on many occasions called for an extension of the criteria for recognition of the right of asylum in order to take account of developments in terms of new forms of persecution. Is the Commission prepared to put forward proposals to this effect?

Answer given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(27 November 2001)

All 15 Member States, as well as the 13 current applicant countries, have ratified both the 1951 Geneva Convention and the 1967 New York Protocol. Among the members of the United Nations, and according to information provided by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there are 52 states that are not yet party to the Convention and Protocol (see annex A).

The Commission emphasizes the importance of all members of the United Nations (UN) ratifying the 1951 Geneva Convention (and the 1967 New York Protocol) in order to create the strongest possible international legal framework for providing protection to refugees. Within this context the Commission fully supports every initiative to address the issue within the framework of several relevant international fora, in particular the UNHCR's Executive Committee as well as the so-called Global Consultations (set up by UNHCR, in the context of the 50th anniversary of the Refugee Convention).

The Commission does not intend to put forward proposals on the extension for recognition of the right of asylum. However, what it has done has been to adopt on 12 September 2001 a proposal for a Council Directive on minimum standards for the qualification and status of third country nationals and stateless persons as refugees or as persons who otherwise need international protection(1).

The Proposal lays down principles on the recognition and content of refugee status. It lays down the same rules for subsidiary protection status, to be granted to those who do not qualify for refugee status, but for whom it has been determined that they are in need of international protection otherwise. The Proposal also contains principles on the possible sources of persecution, within the meaning of the Refugee Convention, including persecution by so-called non-state agents, where the State is unwilling or unable to provide effective protection. Furthermore, the Proposal provides principles in considering five grounds for persecution as listed in the Refugee Convention, including the persecution ground membership of a particular social group, which in the Proposal is defined as to potentially cover gender-related persecution.

(1) COM(2001) 510 final.