Denis Staunton
in Brussels
European Union justice and home affairs ministers are close to agreement on establishing a list of "safe" countries from which asylum-seekers would not generally be accepted, despite a warning from the UN that such a move could "seriously compromise the protection of refugees".
At a meeting in Brussels yesterday, most ministers backed the plan, with Sweden and Britain expressing reservations for opposing reasons.
Many EU countries, including Ireland, already have lists of "safe countries" from which asylum-seekers are presumed to have flimsy claims. Ireland's list includes Romania, Bulgaria and the 10 countries due to join the EU next year.
Sweden fears that the proposal for an EU list goes too far and wants to lay down strict criteria for what constitutes a safe country, such as a democratic system of government and the possibility of a fair trial. Britain wants criteria to be more flexible so that, for example, regions within a country could be deemed safe or it could be considered safe to return male refugees to a country but not women.
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has expressed concern about the proposal, particularly if asylum- seekers are sent back to countries they may only have used as transit routes to Europe. Mr Raymond Hall, director of UNHCR's Europe Bureau, warned that the EU was in danger of avoiding its responsibilities to refugees.
"Even worse, if it is done without the express agreement of the third country, it could lead to people being stuck in airports, unable to access any asylum system anywhere, or even to people being returned to a dangerous situation in their home country - which is, of course, against international law," he said.
The ministers welcomed a proposal from the Commission to introduce biometric indicators, such as fingerprints and iris scans, into the visa information system and residence permits. There is no proposal as yet to include such information in passports but a new generation of Irish passports to be introduced next year will have a capability to carry such information.