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Blunkett asylum appeal: Brussels urged to 'export' English Appeal Court asylum benefits ruling
March 18, 2003 12:00 AM
The decision of the English Appeal Court today that the total withholding of refugee support was a breach of human rights should be 'exported' throughout the EU, says Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP, European Liberal group spokeswoman on justice and home affairs in the European Parliament.
"It is thanks to the embedding in British law of European human rights law - something championed by Liberal Democrats - that Blunkett has now been made to see sense. His asylum laws denying any welfare benefits - or any right to work - to asylum seekers who made claims a few days late are in breach of the European ban on inhumane and degrading treatment."
"The British government tried to export its domestic agenda by getting harsh last-minute amendments to the EU refugee support Directive. Now that this agenda has been found in breach of human rights, a block on attempts to make people destitute should also be exported across Europe.
"I therefore call on the EU Council and Commission to ensure that all Member States, when implementing the new Directive, follow the spirit of the English Appeal Court which underlines that making asylum seekers destitute by denying them food and shelter is a breach of the European Convention of Human Rights."
"The English court's ruling recognises that asylum seekers are often bewildered and unaware of the legal systems in the country they have arrived in. There needs to be uniform interpretation of EU law and the ECHR so EU law should forbid any EU state withholding assistance without a chance for the applicant to explain a delay."
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