Adjudication of asylum claims (refugee status determination / asylum procedures) / Refugee status determination (RSD) / Asylum procedures

26 August 2020 | Publisher: UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) | Document type: Handbooks/Manuals

26 August 2020 | Publisher: UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) | Document type: Handbooks/Manuals

26 August 2020 | Publisher: UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) | Document type: Handbooks/Manuals

13 August 2020 | Publisher: UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) | Document type: Court Interventions / Amicus Curiae

10 August 2020 | Publisher: UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) | Document type: Comments on National Legislation

August 2020 | Publisher: UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) | Document type: Legal Articles/Analyses/Commentaries

I have concluded that the evidence establishes that the children would, on a balance of probabilities, suffer serious harm if returned to their habitual residence of Kuwait. Ontario therefore may and should exercise jurisdiction to determine custody and access. I have also concluded that it was an error to order the return of the children pending the determination of their refugee claim.

29 July 2020 | Judicial Body: Canada: Court of Appeal for Ontario | Document type: Case Law | Topic(s): Children's rights - Children-at-risk - Physical harm - Refugee status determination (RSD) / Asylum procedures | Countries: Canada - Kuwait

15 July 2020 | Publisher: UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) | Document type: Comments on National Legislation

The French authorities had failed in their duties under domestic law. They were found responsible for the conditions in which the applicants had been living for several months: sleeping rough, without access to sanitary facilities, having no means of subsistence and constantly in fear of being attacked or robbed. The applicants had thus been victims of degrading treatment, showing a lack of respect for their dignity. The Court found that such living conditions, combined with the lack of an appropriate response from the French authorities and the fact that the domestic courts had systematically objected that the competent bodies lacked resources in the light of their status as single young men, had exceeded the threshold of severity for the purposes of Article 3 of the Convention. The three applicants N.H., K.T. and A.J. had thus found themselves, through the fault of the French authorities, in a situation that was incompatible with Article 3 of the Convention.

2 July 2020 | Judicial Body: Council of Europe: European Court of Human Rights | Document type: Case Law | Legal Instrument: 1950 European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) | Topic(s): Freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment - Reception - Refugee status determination (RSD) / Asylum procedures | Countries: Afghanistan - France - Georgia - Iran, Islamic Republic of - Russian Federation

In a landmark judgment, the Federal Administrative Court acknowledged the existence of a new specific circumstance that goes against the granting of family asylum. In addition, it considered that the result of the assessment of evidence made in the original, already concluded, asylum procedure cannot be simply transposed to the subsequent family asylum procedure. The right to be heard must be granted again and the results assessed separately.

1 July 2020 | Judicial Body: Switzerland: Tribunal administratif fédéral | Document type: Case Law | Topic(s): Refugee status determination (RSD) / Asylum procedures - Right to family life - Rule of law / Due process / Procedural fairness | Countries: China - Switzerland