Asylum, refugees and displaced persons
	The Council of Europe has always shown a particular interest for the situation of refugees, asylum seekers and displaced persons in Europe. Over the years the Committee of Ministers has adopted a number of pan-European standards including several recommendations to governments. These recommendations reinforce the implementation of the Geneva Convention relating to the status of refugees by addressing the most relevant issues that European governments may face in this field. They include, inter alia, recommendations covering the harmonisation of national procedures relating to asylum, the training of officials in charge of asylum procedures, the detention of asylum seekers, the return of rejected asylum-seekers as well as the subsidiary and temporary protection.
The recommendations in the field of asylum frequently draw on the relevant case-law of the European Court of Human Rights. The European Convention on Human Rights constitutes the most comprehensive and effective international human rights instrument in Europe and although it does not contain explicit provisions on the right of asylum, the European Court of Human Rights, through its case-law, has gradually made the Convention a key instrument in the field of refugee law.
Furthermore, since the early 1990s the Council of Europe has been organising assistance programmes which aim at ensuring that the universal principles and the relevant Council of Europe standards in the field of refugee protection are being properly considered by those states that are in the process of setting up or developing their national asylum systems.
Latest documents Access to justice for migrants and asylum seekers (2009) Report by Mr Jeremy McBride Recommendation N° R (2006) 6 on internally displaced persons, adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 5 April 2006 “Twenty guidelines on forced return” adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 4 May 2005 Recommendation N° R (2005) 6 on Exclusion clauses, adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 23 March 2005			Texts and documents Archives Links Contacts Français