No jumping the queueAN UNEASY paradox underlies asylum policy in Europe. As signatories to the Refugee Convention of 1951, all European Union countries must allow foreigners on their territory to apply for protection. But none is obliged to help them arrive in the first place. As most war-torn places are some distance from Europe, asylum-seekers must endure dangerous journeys, and rapacious people-smugglers thrive.
Resettling refugees directly from countries that host lots of them, such as Turkey, Lebanon and Kenya, is another option. A third is to issue humanitarian visas, which entitle the bearer to travel safely to his or her destination before claiming asylum. But European governments hand them out sparingly, and there is little legal clarity surrounding their use. Advocates for refugees hoped that the European Court of Justice might change that in a ruling this week.
The case before the court involved a family of five Christians from Aleppo, in Syria, who applied for humanitarian visas at the Belgian embassy in Beirut last October. Belgian officials refused to consider the bid because the family intended to...Continue reading
Souce: Europe http://ift.tt/2nl2ZDq
EmoticonEmoticon