- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- Acronyms and abbreviations
- Introduction
- Section 1. Global overview of asylum in 2020
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Section 2. Major developments in asylum in the European Union in 2020
- 2.1 Road to a Common European Asylum System
- 2.2 Responding to the new reality of the COVID-19 pandemic
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2.3 Key developments in policy and practices at the EU level
- 2.3.1 Presidencies of the Council of the European Union
- 2.3.2 Situation at the EU external borders and migration routes
- 2.3.3 Pressure on the Greek borders and islands
- 2.3.4 Relocation following search and rescue operations
- 2.3.5 EU resettlement schemes
- 2.3.6 UK withdrawal from the EU and its implications on asylum
- 2.4 External dimension of EU policy
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2.5 Jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the EU
- 2.5.1 Effective access to the asylum procedure
- 2.5.2 Personal interviews in inadmissible cases
- 2.5.3 Assessment of prosecution or punishment for refusal to perform military service
- 2.5.4 Safe third country concept
- 2.5.5 Use of detention
- 2.5.6 Guidance for second instance procedures
- 2.5.7 Non-discrimination of naturalised beneficiaries of international protection
- 2.5.8 Age of minors in family reunification
- 2.5.9 Applying the Return Directive
- 2.5.10 Fulfilling obligations of relocations
- 2.5.11 Restrictions on the work of NGOs
- Section 3. EASO support to countries
- Section 4. Functioning of the Common European Asylum System
- Section 4.1 Access to procedure
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Section 4.2 The Dublin procedure
- 4.2.1 Decisions on outgoing Dublin requests
- 4.2.2 Acceptance rate for Dublin requests
- 4.2.3 Decisions on take charge and take back requests
- 4.2.4 National efforts to amend the overall process
- 4.2.5 Guidance and research on the application of the Dublin III Regulation
- 4.2.6 Concerns around the clauses related to family reunification
- 4.2.7 Use of the discretionary clause
- 4.2.8 Assessing transfers to specific countries: The cases of Bulgaria, Greece and Italy
- 4.2.9 Implementation of transfers to another Member State
- 4.2.10 Following an implemented transfer
- Section 4.3 Special procedures to assess protection needs
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Section 4.4 Processing asylum applications at first instance
- 4.4.1 Setting up more efficient systems
- 4.4.2 Decisions issued on first instance asylum applications
- 4.4.3 Managing case loads
- 4.4.4 Withdrawn applications
- 4.4.5 Assessing applications
- 4.4.6 Managing time limits and notifications
- 4.4.7 Organising personal interviews
- 4.4.8 Training staff
- 4.4.9 Monitoring and quality assurance
- 4.4.10 Accessing case files
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Section 4.5 Processing asylum applications at second or higher instances
- 4.5.1 Reorganising second instance bodies
- 4.5.2 Data on second and higher instances
- 4.5.3 Suspension of a return during an appeal
- 4.5.4 Adapting oral and written procedures
- 4.5.5 Managing time limits and the backlog on appeals
- 4.5.6 Digitalising processes
- 4.5.7 Revising the notification of decisions
- Section 4.6 Pending cases
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Section 4.7 Reception of applicants for international protection
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4.7.1 Organisation and functioning of reception systems
- 4.7.1.1 Changing institutional environments
- 4.7.1.2 Adjusting reception capacity
- 4.7.1.3 Reorganising and adapting reception systems
- 4.7.1.4 Support for the administration of reception facilities
- 4.7.1.5 Renovation and refurbishment needs
- 4.7.1.6 Providing and supporting reception out of reception centres
- 4.7.1.7 Entitlement to material reception conditions
- 4.7.2 Applicants’ daily life
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4.7.1 Organisation and functioning of reception systems
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Section 4.8 Detention during the asylum procedure
- 4.8.1 Recourse to detention
- 4.8.2 Temporary practical arrangements
- 4.8.3 Types of detention facilities and capacity
- 4.8.4 Conditions in detention facilities
- 4.8.5 Detention of minors and applicants with special needs
- 4.8.6 Alternatives to detaining applicants
- 4.8.7 Training detention staff
- 4.8.8 Overseeing the framework for detention
- Section 4.9 Access to information
- Section 4.10 Legal assistance and representation
- Section 4.11 Interpretation services
- Section 4.12 Country of origin information
- Section 4.13 Statelessness in the asylum context
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Section 4.14 Content of protection
- 4.14.1 Granting international protection: Recognition rates
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4.14.2 Building perspectives: Legal status and family reunification
- 4.14.2.1 National forms of protection and regularisation measures
- 4.14.2.2 Review, cessation and revocation of international protection status
- 4.14.2.3 Residence permits
- 4.14.2.4 Family reunification
- 4.14.2.5 Identity and travel documents
- 4.14.2.6 Beneficiaries of international protection moving to another Member State
- 4.14.3 Developing policies: Integration plans and their evaluations
- 4.14.4 Support for integration: Orientation, education, employment, health and welfare
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Section 4.15 Return of former applicants
- 4.15.1 Regulating returns at the European level
- 4.15.2 Coordinated EU approach and increasing role of Frontex
- 4.15.3 Authorities responsible for the return procedure
- 4.15.4 Refining national legislation on the issuance of a return decision to third-country nationals
- 4.15.5 Efficiency of the return process
- 4.15.6 Programmes supporting return and reintegration assistance
- 4.15.7 Providing information on return
- 4.15.8 Return of minors
- 4.15.9 Implementing a return
- Section 4.16 Resettlement and humanitarian admissions
- Section 5. Children and applicants with special needs
- Concluding remarks: The way forward
- Bibliography
- Reader’s guide
- Statistical tables
- Infographics
Several pieces of legislation on new administrative bodies related to reception were adopted in 2019, with implementation beginning in 2020. For example, the new Austrian Federal Agency for Reception and Support Services (BBU, Bundesagentur für Betreuungs- und Unterstützungsleistungen GmbH) started its activities related to the provision of material reception conditions on 1 December 2020, while legal advice and representation, translation and interpretation services, advice and counselling on return and human rights monitoring were implemented as of 1 January 2021. Since the agency is a non-profit subsidiary company of the Federal Republic, civil society organisations expressed their concern about the independence and impartiality of the new organisation (especially regarding legal advice) already in 2019 at the time of the adoption of the new law,520 and then throughout 2020, as the agency was about to become operational521 (see Section 4.10). In Luxembourg, the National Reception Office (ONA, Office nationale de l'accueil) started its operations on 1 January 2020, taking over tasks from the National Reception and Integration Office (OLAI, Office national de l’accueil et de l’intégration).522
Some reception-related tasks in Ireland were transferred from the Minister for Justice and Equality to the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, including the provision, withdrawal or reduction of material reception conditions, information provision, the designation of accommodation centres and the assessment of special reception needs for asylum applicants.523
The Office for Foreigners’ Department of Social Assistance, the authority responsible for reception in Poland, was restructured to now have four units instead of five. One unit now manages all reception centres.
[520] European Asylum Support Office. (June 2020). EASO Asylum Report 2020: The Situation of Asylum in the European Union. https://easo.europa.eu/asylum-report-2020
[521] European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. (2020). Migration: Key fundamental rights concerns - Quarterly Bulletin 4 - 2020. https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/fra-2020-migration-bulletin-4_en.pdf
[522] European Asylum Support Office. (June 2020). EASO Asylum Report 2020: The Situation of Asylum in the European Union. https://easo.europa.eu/asylum-report-2020
[523] Disability, Equality, Human Rights, Integration and Reception (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministerial Functions) Order 2020, October 16, 2020. http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2020/si/436/made/en/print