The Dublin III Regulation is based on the same principles as the previous two, namely that it is the first Member State that should be responsible for examining a person’s asylum application.
Asylum seekers who leaves the first Member State and travels to another country will according to the legislation be transferred back to the first destination. However, there are exceptions to such transfers, e.g. if the person has family already residing in another Member State or if the person is in a particularly vulnerable situation due to e.g. a disease.
The rules and responsibilities of the Member States have in the two first Dublin regulations been unclear. This has now been clarified in the new regulation, where Cecilia Wikström has lead the negotiations between the European Parliament, the Council and the EU-commission. Deadlines and cost responsibility is now clearly defined between the Member States in order to avoid misunderstandings, and that people become victims of lame bureaucracy and fall through the cracks.
The new regulation also provides enchanced safeguards for asylum seekers. The family concept is extended for unaccompanied minors, which means that they not can be reunited with their grandparents, uncles or aunts who are living in one of the Member States. It is also possible to appeal against a transfer decision, and while waiting for a decision they have the right to stay in the country where they currently are.
A new clause has been introduced into the Dublin III-Regulations, saying that a Member State is not allowed to transfer a person to another Member State under the Dublin principle, if there is a risk that the person will be subjected to inhuman and degrading treatement. All transfers to Greece have been halted for two years, after a ruling from the European Court of Justice, but with this new paragraph the Member States will be obliged to make an assessment themselves and not wait for a court decision.
Another innovation in the new Dublin Regulation is a new surveillance system, the so called early warning mechanism. A precondition for the common asylum asystem to work is that all Member States properly implement the legislation. Through an ongoing monitoring of the asylum systems in the Member States, it will be easier to detect problems and get help from the EU-commission and EASO (European Asylum Office in Malta), before it degenerated as it did in Greece where its asylum system completely collapsed.
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