Mar 29, 2021 | Agendas, Events, News
Judges play a crucial role in protecting the rights of migrants and asylum seekers, and refugees , experts emphasized at a conference for judges in the Czech Republic held by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), Forum for Human Rights and Czech judicial academy on 22-23 March 2021.
The right of asylum seekers to an effective remedy is guaranteed in international and EU law, and it requires a full and ex nunc examination of both facts and points of law. Conference participants discussed how specific vulnerabilities of people in asylum proceedings must be identified as early as possible and the important role that judges play in ensuring that this is the case.
Speakers emphasized that the “best interest of the child” principle, and the right to private and family life, have to be taken into consideration when termination of residence of migrants is in question.
The training, “Selected discourses of asylum and migration law from the international and national perspective” addressed relevant topical questions on the protection of human rights in asylum proceedings in the Czech Republic. Participants included international experts and about 100 participants from among Czech judges and judicial assistants. The speakers included highly experienced European judges, and Czech legal experts and judges. The event was co-organised with Forum for Human Rights, a Czech and Slovak nongovernmental organization, and the Judicial academy of the Czech Republic.
Background
The event took place as part of the FAIR PLUS project. You can find the agenda of the national training here and more details on the issues covered by the training here.
Watch on YouTube: FAIR PLUS Project: Selected discourses of asylum and migration law form the international and national perspectives.
Dec 18, 2020 | Agendas, Events, News
The ICJ and the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR) today hold the first part of the online training for Greek judges and lawyers on asylum procedures and detention of third country nationals as a part of the FAIR PLUS project.
The training brings together experts from the Greek Administrative Court of Appeal, Administrative Court of First Instance, European Court of Human Rights, GCR, ICJ and academics for a discussion on administrative detention on third-country nationals with a focus on the current situation in Greece.
Among the topics to be discussed today are domestic remedies to detention of third-country nationals; as well as deportation and detention of third country nationals in light of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), EU law and Greek constitutional and European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) case-law regarding immigration detention.
The second part of the training, on fair and effective asylum procedures, is planned for 15 January 2021, and will focus on Directive 2011/95/EE (inclusion clause in refugee protection status); asylum procedure and procedural guarantees; case-law of the CJEU on asylum and common issues of asylum applications – credibility and safe third country.
This is the third training delivered as part of this project, the first two having been held in person this January in Dublin and last December in Pisa.
See the agenda for both parts of the training in English and in Greek.
This training is a part of FAIR PLUS project. It was carried out with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of ICJ and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.
Sep 30, 2019 | Agendas, Events, Uncategorized
Today, in the framework of the EU funded project “Enhancing legal protection of migrants rights in Kazakhstan”, the Legal and Policy Resource Center (LPRC) and the ICJ began a series of three trainings linked to this issue for lawyers and civil society organizations.
Three two-day trainings on “International and national Law on the protection of migrants in legal practice” will take place from 30 September to 5 October in Nur-Sultan, Shymkent and Almaty.
The trainings will address international and national law and standards relevant to the protection of the rights of migrants, including in situations of expulsion and detention, as well as with regard to the respect, protection and fulfilment of their economic, social and cultural rights.
During the trainings, 100 attorneys and lawyers of non-governmental organizations from 10 regions of Kazakhstan will be trained.
Kazakhstan-Training-Agenda-MigrationIHRL-NurSultan-2019-engrus (download the agenda of the Nur Sultan training in Russian and English)
Kazakhstan-Training-Agenda-MigrationIHRL-Shymkent-2019-engrus (download the agenda of the Shymkent training in Russian and English)
Kazakhstan-Training-Agenda-MigrationIHRL-Almaty-2019-engrus (download the agenda of the Almaty training in Russian and English)
Jun 12, 2018 | Advocacy, Cases, Legal submissions
The ICJ and others intervened before the European Court of Human Rights in a case of thirteen undocumented children held in a hotspot in Italy.
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE), the Dutch Council for Refugees and the AIRE Centre jointly intervened in the case of Trawalli and others v. Italy.
In this case, the European Court of Human Rights is called to rule, among other issues, on whether their detention and reception conditions were lawful and/or constituted an inhuman or degrading treatment under the European Convention on Human Rights.
In their third party intervention, the three human rights organizations submitted the following arguments:
a) Taking into consideration migrant children’s status as persons in situations of vulnerability and the principle of the best interests of the child, article 5 ECHR should be read in light of the rising consensus in international law towards a prohibition of detention of children on immigration grounds, in particular based on the consolidated and clear position of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. This applies to all instances of deprivation of liberty irrespective of their classification under domestic law.
b) In addition to the above, detention under article 5.1 ECHR will in any event be unlawful and arbitrary where it lacks a clear and accessible legal basis, outlining the permissible grounds of detention as well as the relevant procedural guarantees and remedies available to detainees, including judicial review and access to legal advice and assistance. In light of the obligations of EU Member States under EU law, the interveners submit that detention of asylum seeking children falling within the scope of the recast Reception Conditions Directive will result in a breach of the Convention standards also where it is not used as a measure of last resort, but rather is imposed without consideration of less onerous alternative measures and where the child’s best interests assessment has not been carried out and reflected in this decision.
c) Due to children’s extreme vulnerability, their detention for immigration purposes risks leading to a violation of Article 3 ECHR because of inadequate living conditions and/or to a violation of Article 8 ECHR because of a disproportionate and unnecessary interference with their development and personal autonomy, as protected under Article 8. In this sense, Article 8 must be regarded as affording protection from conditions of detention which would not reach the level of severity required to engage Article 3.
d) When the authorities deprive or seek to deprive a child of her or his liberty, they must ensure that he/she effectively benefits from an enhanced set of guarantees in addition to undertaking the diligent assessment of her/his best interest noted above. The guarantees include: prompt identification and appointment of a competent guardian; a child-sensitive due process framework, including the child’s rights to receive information in a child-friendly language, the right to be heard and have her/his views taken into due consideration depending on his/her age and maturity, to have access to justice and to challenge the detention conditions and lawfulness before a judge; free legal assistance and representation, interpretation and translation. The Contracting Parties must also immediately provide the child access to an effective remedy.
e) In order to fully comply with their obligations under the Convention, Contracting Parties must guarantee that asylum seeking children are accommodated in reception facilities which are adapted to their specific needs and provide adequate material conditions adapted to their age, condition of dependency and enhanced vulnerability. To do otherwise results in a failure by States to comply with their obligations under Article 3 ECHR and their specific obligations under EU law.
Italy-icj&others-Trawalli&others-Advocacy-legal submission-2018-ENG (download the intervention)
Nov 7, 2017 | Agendas, Events, News
The ICJ delivers today and tomorrow a training on asylum, migration and international human rights law, organised by UNHCR-BiH, the Sector for Asylum of the Ministry for Security and Vaša Prava BiH.
The training, that takes place in the capital Sarajevo, will be delivered to officers of the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as of independent State institutions.
It will focus on human rights law related to the entry of migrants, including refugees, to the territory of a State, to the State’s obligations on international protection as well as to the rules applicable to detention of foreign national and their rights, and alternatives to detention.
BiH-Training-DetentionMigration&Asylum-ICJ&others-2017-eng (download the agenda in English and Bosnian)
