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Safe Countries or Systematic Assessments? - A critical investigation of the safe country of origin concept in the CEAS and the national implementation in Sweden in relation to the right to asylum

Ekberg, Sofia LU (2022) LAGM01 20221
Department of Law
Faculty of Law
Abstract
Safety has always been a prominent concept within asylum law for the assessment of international protection. However, as the CEAS has developed immensely the past years, moving towards a paradigm shift of increasingly restrictive migration policies; the use of safety has evolved accordingly. With the ‘safe country of origin’ (SCO) concept, the focus has shifted further towards the situation in the country rather than the individual merits. The concept allows for an accelerated procedure and is established in the recast Asylum Procedures Directive (recast APD), even if it has been a recognised practice since the 1990’s. In Sweden, the concept was implemented in 2021, allowing for the Swedish Migration Agency to subject nationals from a... (More)
Safety has always been a prominent concept within asylum law for the assessment of international protection. However, as the CEAS has developed immensely the past years, moving towards a paradigm shift of increasingly restrictive migration policies; the use of safety has evolved accordingly. With the ‘safe country of origin’ (SCO) concept, the focus has shifted further towards the situation in the country rather than the individual merits. The concept allows for an accelerated procedure and is established in the recast Asylum Procedures Directive (recast APD), even if it has been a recognised practice since the 1990’s. In Sweden, the concept was implemented in 2021, allowing for the Swedish Migration Agency to subject nationals from a total of eight countries designated as safe in accordance with the recast APD to fast-track procedures. The binding obligation of art. 18 of the EU Charter and international human rights standards articulate obligations upon states to ensure fair and just individual assessments of each applicant’s case. Implementing fast-track procedures such as the SCO regulation, may weaken these obligations.

The thesis’ purpose was to investigate how the implementation of the SCO regulations in Sweden may affect the right to asylum and international standards on human rights. The research has found issues with coherence between the new rules and fundamental norms incorporated in the right to asylum, with the increased risk of systematic decisions caused by basing the assessment mainly on nationality. Furthermore, the thesis focused on the contradictions within the recast APD and the supposed procedural safeguards. It found that the lessened procedural guarantees in the context of the SCO regulations appear as contradictory to the undertaken obligations considering the vulnerability of asylum seekers. Indicating how the concept is a mean for EU Member States such as Sweden, to decrease migration in a manner that risks the individual’s human rights guarantees and limits the access to asylum. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
Säkerhet har alltid varit ett väletablerat koncept i asylrätten för utvärderingen av rätten till internationellt skydd. Dock har EU:s asylpolitik undergått extensiva förändringar de senaste åren, och genomgått ett paradigmskifte mot mer restriktiva migrationsregleringar: och användningen av säkerhet som ett koncept har förändrats i enlighet med den utvecklingen. Med implementeringen av regleringen om säkra ursprungsländer har fokus förflyttats från individens omständigheter till situationen i den sökandes hemland. Regleringarna tillåter snabbare processer och är numera etablerat i det omarbetade asylprocessdirektivet, även om det har varit en erkänd del av internationell asylrätt sedan 1990-talet. Regleringarna implementerades i Sverige... (More)
Säkerhet har alltid varit ett väletablerat koncept i asylrätten för utvärderingen av rätten till internationellt skydd. Dock har EU:s asylpolitik undergått extensiva förändringar de senaste åren, och genomgått ett paradigmskifte mot mer restriktiva migrationsregleringar: och användningen av säkerhet som ett koncept har förändrats i enlighet med den utvecklingen. Med implementeringen av regleringen om säkra ursprungsländer har fokus förflyttats från individens omständigheter till situationen i den sökandes hemland. Regleringarna tillåter snabbare processer och är numera etablerat i det omarbetade asylprocessdirektivet, även om det har varit en erkänd del av internationell asylrätt sedan 1990-talet. Regleringarna implementerades i Sverige 2021, vilket möjliggör för Sverige att använda sig av så kallade accelererade asylprocesser för medborgare och bosatta från åtta länder som har blivit utnämnda till sådana så kallade säkra ursprungsländer i enlighet med det omarbetade asylprocessdirektivet. Den bindande rätten till asyl i artikel 18 i EU-stadgan, samt grundläggande internationella mänskliga rättigheter sätter särskilda krav på länderna att försäkra en rättvis och rättssäker individuell bedömning av varje enskild asylansökan. Med implementeringen av accelererade processer så som regleringen om säkra ursprungsländer kan detta skydd försvagas.

Uppsatsens syfte var därmed att besvara frågan om hur implementeringen av regleringen om säkra ursprungsländer i Sverige påverkar rätten till asyl och standarder om internationella mänskliga rättigheter. Arbetet har funnit problem i enigheten med normer och rättigheter till följd av den ökade risken för systematiserade beslut då asylbedömningen huvudsakligen kommer att baseras på nationalitet. Vidare har uppsatsen även fokuserat på motstridigheterna inom det omarbetade asylprocessdirektivet och avsedda processuella rättigheter. Det minskade skyddet av dessa i samband med regleringen om säkra ursprungsländer motstrider syftet med höga processuella garantier för asylsökande som en särskilt utsatt grupp. Detta antyder att regleringen om säkra ursprungsländer har blivit ett medel för EU-stater så som Sverige, att minska invandring på ett sådant sätt att individens mänskliga rättigheter riskeras att påverkas negativt samt att tillgången till asyl minskas. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Ekberg, Sofia LU
supervisor
organization
course
LAGM01 20221
year
type
H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
subject
keywords
Migration law, asylum law, EU law, Swedish migration law, human rights, CEAS
language
English
id
9089683
date added to LUP
2022-06-27 16:20:21
date last changed
2022-06-27 16:20:21
@misc{9089683,
  abstract     = {{Safety has always been a prominent concept within asylum law for the assessment of international protection. However, as the CEAS has developed immensely the past years, moving towards a paradigm shift of increasingly restrictive migration policies; the use of safety has evolved accordingly. With the ‘safe country of origin’ (SCO) concept, the focus has shifted further towards the situation in the country rather than the individual merits. The concept allows for an accelerated procedure and is established in the recast Asylum Procedures Directive (recast APD), even if it has been a recognised practice since the 1990’s. In Sweden, the concept was implemented in 2021, allowing for the Swedish Migration Agency to subject nationals from a total of eight countries designated as safe in accordance with the recast APD to fast-track procedures. The binding obligation of art. 18 of the EU Charter and international human rights standards articulate obligations upon states to ensure fair and just individual assessments of each applicant’s case. Implementing fast-track procedures such as the SCO regulation, may weaken these obligations.

The thesis’ purpose was to investigate how the implementation of the SCO regulations in Sweden may affect the right to asylum and international standards on human rights. The research has found issues with coherence between the new rules and fundamental norms incorporated in the right to asylum, with the increased risk of systematic decisions caused by basing the assessment mainly on nationality. Furthermore, the thesis focused on the contradictions within the recast APD and the supposed procedural safeguards. It found that the lessened procedural guarantees in the context of the SCO regulations appear as contradictory to the undertaken obligations considering the vulnerability of asylum seekers. Indicating how the concept is a mean for EU Member States such as Sweden, to decrease migration in a manner that risks the individual’s human rights guarantees and limits the access to asylum.}},
  author       = {{Ekberg, Sofia}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Safe Countries or Systematic Assessments? - A critical investigation of the safe country of origin concept in the CEAS and the national implementation in Sweden in relation to the right to asylum}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}