Annual Report 2014 ECRE Mission Statement The European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) is a pan-European alliance of NGOs protecting and advancing the rights of refugees, asylum seekers and displaced persons. Our mission is to promote the establishment of fair and humane European asylum policies and practices in accordance with international human rights law. Working together with our members and partners to inform and persuade European authorities and the public, we monitor and denounce human rights violations while proposing and promoting fair and effective durable solutions. We accomplish our mission through research, advocacy and the sharing of knowledge and expertise. ECRE Vision Statement ECRE strives for a Europe that protects refugees, asylum seekers and displaced persons with dignity and respect. “Europe” refers to the broader geographic territory as well as “Europe” as an actor giving access to protection and providing assistance on its territory and outside. The term “protects” is defined in the broadest sense, to encompass access to asylum, legal and physical protection and integration. “Refugees, asylum seekers and displaced persons” to include all people seeking protection against their loss of rights due to displacement. Table of Contents Foreword ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Europe must be part of the solution to #HelpSyriasRefugees ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 6 It’s life or death. Let’s choose life – ECRE on deaths in the Mediterranean and end of Operation Mare Nostrum ..................................................................... 9 AIDA Annual Report: fleeing war and persecution, forced to seek safety in a rickety boat ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 11 ECRE calls for a system to allow positive decisions on asylum to be recognised across the EU ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 12 ECRE’s recommendations on the transposition of EU’s recast Asylum Procedures Directive �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 13 ECRE publishes practitioner’s tool on how the Charter of Fundamental Rights can be applied to asylum procedural law .........................................................................14 Disrupted Flight – Excessive red tape prevents refugees from reuniting with their family �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 15 ECRE’s work with EASO and Frontex ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 16 Important cases ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 18 European Database of Asylum Law (EDAL).............................................................................................................................................................................. 20 Unaccompanied children face obstacles in accessing quality legal assistance ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 21 Dialogue on Migration and Asylum in Development (DOMAID) ................................................................................................................................................ 22 Forum Share, a Belgian Migrant-led platform............................................................................................................................................................................ 23 Actors of Protection and the Application of the Internal Protection Alternative (APAIPA) .......................................................................................................... 24 Strengthening the ELENA Network in 2014............................................................................................................................................................................... 27 ECRE Annual General Conference and UNHCR NGO Consultations ...................................................................................................................................... 29 ECRE’s Media Officer’s Network ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 30 ECRE Welcomes 3 new member organisations ........................................................................................................................................................................ 31 Our members in 2014 ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 32 ECRE Staff 2014 ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 33 ECRE Finances 2014 ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 34 ECRE’s partners ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 35 Photos credit: Page 8, Jodi Hilton | Page 16, Kris ECRE | Page 21, Leila Alaoui | Page 22, Klaus Bo Christensen | Page 23, Tanja Jørgensen Foreword “We fled to Turkey from Syria to get away from the war. When we were in Turkey, I wanted to find out how we can get to Sweden, Norway, Finland, countries that grant you asylum. I found out that it costs 10,000 Euro per person. There are four of us, so it would cost us 40,000 Euro. I don’t have that amount. Greece is just beside Turkey so we decided to try to go there. There were a lot of difficulties.” They told us there was an inflatable boat that can carry 20-30 people but they packed 80 people on Board. I paid 7,000 Euros for myself, my wife and kids. It would be possible for European countries to take Syrian refugees who are in Turkey, Jordan, Iraq, or the people in the camps. How could we get to Sweden? Legally it is difficult. There is no other way other than the illegal way. The illegal way is death, death, death, and huge amounts of money.” Zaina and Osama They are married with two children. They didn’t believe the war would reach Aleppo. The day the school in front of their home was bombed, they decided to flee to try to keep their family safe. In 2014, ECRE and its members put a great emphasis on giving voice to the difficulties faced by thousands of refugees who try to seek protection in Europe. Their experi- ences are quite simply nightmarish. Take the example of Farah in Lebanon whose children can’t go to school and must beg on the street to get money for rent and food; or Zaina and Osama who were beaten and robbed by smugglers trying to leave Greece, a European country; or Azmi, who risked his life by crossing the Mediterranean and was beaten in Italy because he didn’t want to give his fingerprints and is now in Belgium desperate to get his family to join him but without risking their lives. Europe’s policies, our policies, are forcing people to risk their lives. There are few possibilities to apply for protection or humanitarian visas in Member States’ embassies; complex family reunification requirements mean that those who have family in Europe cannot always be reunited with them; and Europe’s contribution to respond to the acute global resettlement needs remains poor in view of the needs. Left with no other option, refugees are forced to travel irregularly and at great peril. The rickety boats that people pay thousands to travel in often sink leaving people’s hopes and dreams of protection on the seabed. As if the lack of legal and safe routes were not enough, States are also employing deliberate deterrents to protection at Europe’s borders. The reinforced border controls and fences on the Greek and Turkish land borders have all but sealed the border for refugees. At the same time , allegations persist of refugees being illegally pushed back in particular at the Greek-Turkish and Bulgarian-Turkish borders. Such practices undermine the credibility of the EU’s common policy on asylum as a whole. All efforts must be undertaken to ensure that fundamental rights, in particular the right to asylum and the principle of non refoulement, are respected in practice at the EU’s borders so as to ensure that all protection claims are properly examined. We believe that Europe’s response can and must be much better. We will continue advocating not only for the creation of safe and legal means for refugees to access Europe, but also
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