Provisional
edition
The detention of asylum seekers and irregular migrants
in Europe
Recommendation 1900 (2010)1
1. The
Parliamentary Assembly refers to its
Resolution 1707 (2010) on the detention of asylum seekers
and irregular migrants in Europe.
2. The
detention of asylum seekers and irregular migrants in Council
of Europe member states has increased substantially in recent
years.
3. The
Council of Europe has an important role to ensure that any
deprivation of liberty is carefully monitored and that less
restrictive alternatives to detention are considered and used
first, only resorting to detention if it is established that
no alternative will be effective in achieving the legitimate
objective. The Council of Europe also has an important role to
ensure that alternatives to detention are available and
accessible in domestic law and in practice, and applied
without discrimination.
4. The
Council of Europe must ensure that clear principles are
applied in assessing the legality of detention of irregular
migrants and asylum seekers and that minimum standards are
applied in respect of the standards of conditions of detention
of these persons. The Council of Europe has a role to play in
urging member states to implement such principles through
national law and policy in a way which is clear, accessible
and precise, to ensure that individuals are not detained in
any way which can be described as arbitrary.
5.
Therefore, the Assembly recommends that the Committee of
Ministers:
5.1. instruct the relevant expert committee
within the Council of Europe to prepare for the Committee of
Ministers European rules on minimum standards of conditions
of detention of irregular migrants and asylum seekers. The
aim of such minimum standards would be to provide, in the
context of immigration detention, a parallel framework to
the European Prison Rules which apply only to prisons for
criminals and not to detention centres for irregular
migrants and asylum seekers. The minimum standards should
draw inspiration from the European Prison Rules but
recognise that they are applicable to persons not detained
on the basis of having committed any criminal offence.
5.2. instruct the relevant expert committee
within the Council of Europe to set up a consultation body
to examine further the 10 guiding principles on the
circumstances in which the detention of asylum seekers and
irregular migrants is legally permissible. This consultation
body should be comprised of government experts, members of
civil society, representatives of UNHCR and other
international organisations, the International Committee of
the Red Cross, representatives of the European Court of
Human Rights, the European Committee for the Prevention of
Torture and the Office of the Council of Europe Commissioner
for Human Rights and the European Commission. This
consultation body should not only examine the principles but
also make recommendations on whether the Committee of
Ministers should be encouraged to prepare a recommendation,
principles or rules on the issue.
5.3. instruct the relevant expert committee
within the Council of Europe to examine further the issue of
alternatives to detention of migrants and asylum seekers and
identify best practice on this issue with a view to
preparation of a recommendation to member states by the
Committee of Ministers on the subject.
6. The
Assembly reiterates its recommendation to the Committee of
Ministers to establish a new permanent committee within the
Council of Europe with a mandate to examine issues concerning
asylum and internally displaced persons to replace the Ad hoc
Committee of experts on the legal aspects of territorial
asylum, refugees and stateless persons (CAHAR).
1 Assembly debate on 28 January
2010 (7th Sitting) (see Doc.
12105, report of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and
Population, rapporteur: Mrs Mendonça). Text adopted by the
Assembly on 28 January 2010 (7th Sitting). |