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Improving the quality and consistency of asylum
decisions in the Council of Europe member states

Recommendation 1889 (2009)1

1.
Referring to its
Resolution 1695 (2009) “Improving the quality and
consistency of asylum decisions in the Council of Europe
member states”, the Parliamentary Assembly draws attention to
significant divergences in the recognition rates of asylum
seekers between Council of Europe member states.

2.       The
Assembly considers that much greater efforts should be made to
improve the quality and consistency of asylum decisions in
member states in the interest of the member states and the
persons concerned. It therefore invites the Committee of
Ministers to:

2.1.
produce guidelines to improve the quality of asylum
decisions in Council of Europe member states. These
guidelines should take into account seven particular
concerns: difficulties in accessing the asylum process; poor
procedural safeguards in the asylum proceedings; restrictive
and divergent interpretation of eligibility criteria; lack
of objective and reliable country of origin information;
poor evidential assessment; political pressure on the asylum
process; and lack of training of the relevant authorities
and their personnel. Furthermore, these guidelines should
take into account the case law of the European Court of
Human Rights and texts including the Handbook on Procedures
and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status of the Office of
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),
as well as standards set out in the UNHCR Guidelines on
International Protection and the UNHCR Quality Initiative
developed, inter alia, in the United Kingdom;

2.2.
produce guidelines for the collection and harmonisation of
asylum data across Council of Europe member states,
indicating clear benchmarks regarding the exchange of data
and taking into account the existing Parliament and Council
Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 of 11 July 2007 on Community
statistics on migration and international protection [2007]
OJ L 199/23;

2.3.
review the asylum curriculum for all member states, taking
into account work already being carried out and best
practices of member states, relevant principles of refugee
law, case law of the European Court of Human Rights and
other relevant Council of Europe standards;

2.4.
develop training programmes and tools for those involved in
asylum procedures, notably in the specific areas of
interview techniques, working with vulnerable applicants and
with interpreters, finding and using country of origin
information, developments in international human rights and
refugee law, and drafting of decisions;

2.5.
encourage member states to share country of origin
information and important case law decisions, by, inter
alia, setting up a common database for Council of Europe
member states;

2.6.
examine in more detail the extent of the problem of lack of
legal representation and lack of legal aid for asylum
seekers in member states as a limitation of the right of
access to justice;

2.7.
consider establishing a monitoring mechanism to assess the
quality and consistency of asylum decisions across
Europe;

2.8.
establish a new permanent committee within the Council of
Europe with a mandate to examine asylum issues to replace
the Ad hoc Committee of experts on the legal aspects of
territorial asylum, refugees and stateless persons (CAHAR);

2.9.
ensure that the Guidelines on accelerated asylum procedures,
as adopted by the Committee of Ministers, are implemented in
a way that is not oriented towards the lowest common
denominators among Council of Europe member states;

2.10.
identify and promote best training methods throughout the
Council of Europe member states.

3.       The
Assembly also invites the Committee of Ministers to take
renewed note of
Recommendation 1440 (2000) on restrictions on asylum in
member states of the Council of Europe and the European Union,
and to:

3.1.
draw up a European instrument for the harmonisation of
asylum policies, with a view to improving the standard of
protection for refugees and asylum seekers in Europe;

3.2.
instruct the Steering Committee for Human Rights to further
examine the proposal of incorporating the right to asylum
into the European Convention on Human Rights, with a view to
ensuring the same level of protection as provided by the
European Union Charter on Fundamental Rights.

1 Text adopted by the Standing
Committee acting on behalf of the Assembly on 20 November 2009
(see Doc.
11990, report of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and
Population, rapporteur: Mr Cilevičs).

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