Asylum seekers will not be returned to Greece for the time being

The Finnish Immigration Service has made a decision to stop returning asylum seekers to Greece for the time being on the basis of the so-called ‘Dublin Regulation’. The decision was motivated by a ruling issued by the European Court of Human Rights on 21 January 2011. According to the ruling, Belgium was violating the European Convention on Human Rights by returning asylum seekers to Greece. The reasons behind this were the deficiencies in the Greek asylum system, as well as the country’s poor reception and detention facilities.

The determination of the responsibility for examining asylum applications is based on the so-called Dublin Regulation adopted by the EU Member States and Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland. The regulation is based on a principle whereby only one of the states that have adopted the regulation will examine the grounds for the international protection of an asylum seeker. The state responsible for the examination is the one that is mostly responsible for the applicant’s arrival into the Schengen area, or where the applicant first applied for asylum. However, each Member State has the right to process the asylum application, regardless of whether it is responsible for the examination or not.

The Finnish Immigration Service has earlier refused to return unaccompanied minors or applicants in a vulnerable position, such as families with children, to Greece because of the poor conditions in that country. Through their rulings, the Helsinki Administrative Court and the Supreme Administrative Court have endorsed the policy adopted by the Finnish Immigration Service.

Situation in Greece monitored constantly

In accordance with its decision, the Finnish Immigration Service will examine the asylum applications lodged in Finland for which Greece is actually responsible on the basis of the Dublin Regulation. At a rough estimate, the number of such applications in 2011 will be some 100-150.

In addition to these, the Finnish Immigration Service will also examine the applications that were lodged earlier and for which Greece is also responsible on the basis of the Dublin Regulation, provided that the applicant is still in Finland. According to an estimate by the Finnish Immigration Service, there are approximately one hundred such applications at most. Some of these have been appealed and are pending in administrative courts, while others are pending in the European Court of Human Rights. In 2010, the Finnish Police implemented 28 decisions of the Finnish Immigration Service to return an asylum seeker to Greece.

The ruling of the European Court of Human Rights will affect the practices in all EU countries, and according to the Finnish Immigration Service, the decision to stop returning asylum seekers will not make Finland a particularly attractive destination for other asylum seekers. The Finnish Immigration Service will monitor the situation in Greece and the policies adopted by other EU countries and update its own policy where necessary.

Further information for the media:

Esko Repo, Director, Asylum Unit Tel. 071 873 0431, e-mail: firstname.lastname@migri.fi

24.1.2011