Presenting her Annual Report before the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović, among other things, criticised a consistent and deliberate failure by many member states to uphold their international human rights obligations in treating asylum seekers, refugees and migrants in Europe.
“Pushbacks, refusals to rescue boats in distress, inhumane conditions and treatment are the common features of an approach to migration disproportionately focused on security that endangers human lives. Instead of continuing down this path, member states should focus on providing safe and legal routes, humanitarian assistance along migration routes and search and rescue at sea,” stated the Commissioner.
On 10 May 2023, the Commissioner published the report on her visit to Spain carried out in November 2022, with recommendations on social rights, in particular the right to housing and the right to health, the freedoms of expression and assembly and the human rights of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants.
As regards the human rights of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, the Commissioner welcomed the measures adopted to guarantee access to protection and reception of people fleeing the war in Ukraine, the steps taken to improve the reception conditions in the Canary Islands and the adequate protection and reception of unaccompanied migrant children. She however deplored that access to protection varies significantly throughout the country and remains very challenging for many refugees and asylum seekers due to long waiting periods to access the asylum procedure, delays in the identification of special vulnerabilities, and obstacles in accessing social rights, including housing and health. She stresses that there is no genuine and effective access to asylum at the border between Nador (Morocco) and Melilla. “There seems to be no other way to enter Spain at the Melilla border and seek protection with the relevant authorities other than by swimming or jumping the fence, risking one’s life”, she says. The Commissioner urged the authorities to make sure that those in need of protection can access the territory through legal and safe ways. She also emphasises that Spain, like other Council of Europe member states, should not directly or indirectly contribute to human rights violations through measures taken to implement their migration co-operation with third countries and underlines that “the situation at the borders between Morocco and Spain proves once again the urgent need to improve responsibility-sharing and solidarity measures between Council of Europe member states”.
A week later, Commissioner Mijatović sent a letter to Prime Minister of Ireland Leo Vardakar, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman and the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien, in which she raised concerns about the challenges faced by international protection applicants with respect to adequate reception and accommodation in Ireland.
Due to a severe lack of available accommodation, over 900 international protection applicants have been left in a situation of street homelessness over recent months, while families with children are often housed for extended periods in inadequate and overcrowded transit conditions. The situation, which occurs against the background of a broader housing crisis in Ireland, may contribute to a nascent anti-refugee sentiment across the country which has led to several worrying incidents.
In this context, the Commissioner called on the authorities to comprehensively review and address the structural shortcomings of the international protection system and to develop a sustainable approach towards the accommodation of refugees and asylum seekers within the broader housing policy. “The scale and complexity of the prevailing reception crisis calls for a whole-of-government approach”, she wrote.