News
Press Release Published: 14 October 2024
EUAA’s first Fundamental Rights Strategy reinforces safeguards for applicants throughout its operations

The Management Board of the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) has adopted the Agency’s first Fundamental Rights Strategy. The Strategy, proposed by the Agency’s Fundamental Rights Officer, is a feature of the EUAA’s new mandate, and the result of a broad consultation with members of the EUAA Consultative Forum, around 120 civil society organisations, and the UNHCR.
The Fundamental Rights Strategy defines several goals, including promoting and ensuring compliance with fundamental rights in all the Agency’s activities and builds on various measures and procedures, which the EUAA has put in place for its growing operations over the past years.
It aims to redouble guarantees for the dignified and fair treatment of applicants for international protection, in the context of EUAA operations supporting national asylum and reception authorities. The Agency currently has approximately 1500 personnel deployed in 11 Member States.


The Agency’s approach to developing this first Fundamental Rights Strategy was underpinned by four pillars:
- A participatory process – Benefitting from a wide consultation, including with the European Commission, Member States, the UNHCR and Civil Society; it is the result of a broad, collaborative effort, that will be responsive to concrete needs.
- A focus on operational support – Aiming to equip EUAA Asylum Support Teams, which include national experts, Agency staff and external experts, with a comprehensive set of tools to promote and respect fundamental rights in our operations. It also provides for regular visits to country operations by the Fundamental Rights Officer and his team.
- Mainstreaming of Fundamental Rights – A central focus is promoting and embedding fundamental rights across all areas of the Agency's work, with particular attention given to the future Monitoring Mechanism for the application of the EU’s asylum rules.
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Strengthening access to accountability – As an important first step in implementation, the Agency has launched dedicated webpages for its Complaints Mechanism. Applicants for international protection are provided with essential information on how to seek recourse if they feel that a member of an EUAA Asylum Support Team has violated their rights.
Background
In line with provisions of Articles 50, 51 and 57 of the EUAA Regulation, the Agency is required to fully adhere to the protection of fundamental rights, as these are developed through Union and relevant international law, such as the Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, in all its activities. Furthermore, the Agency has a duty to adopt and implement a Strategy to that effect, the text of which shall be consulted with representatives of Civil Society Organisations as members of the EUAA Consultative Forum and the UNHCR.