Home >> Topics >> Asylum in the EU >> Qualifying for International Protection

Qualifying for International Protection

The 1951 Refugee Convention envisages protection for any person unable to return to his/her country due to "a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion."

Even where this standard is not met, European states may not return individuals in breach of international obligations such as the absolute prohibitions on torture, execution or inhuman or degrading treatment contained in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

EU Rules

In April 2004 the EU introduced the Qualification Directive, one of five legal instruments that make up the EU acquis (body of law) on asylum. The Directive, which applies to all Member States except Denmark, came into force in October 2006, and only Sweden and Spain have not yet transposed it into national law.

This Directive aims to harmonise the way Member States provide refugee protection, and requires Member States to provide "subsidiary protection" to people at risk of serious harm. At the same time, it sets minimum rights that persons qualifying for international protection should receive.

A person's chances of being granted asylum still vary hugely according to the country where the asylum seeker has his or her asylum claim processed. For example, Iraqis who flee their home country and end up in Germany have a 85% of being recognised as a refugee at first instance and those who apply for asylum in Slovenia do not get a protection status at all.

The Qualification Directive has raised standards by for an example introducing a European subsidiary protection and by requiring the recognition of non-state actors of persecution, but in many other respects it has encouraged Members States to lower their standards.


ECRE's position
  • Any rights afforded to refugees by the 1951 Geneva Convention should also be granted to all persons under subsidiary protection, as both categories of protected persons have similar needs and circumstances.

  • ECRE welcomes the recognition of child-specific and gender-specific forms of persecution and provisions aimed specifically at the needs of unaccompanied minors (see also section on Vulnerable groups).

  • Member States should assess asylum applications in keeping with a full and inclusive application of international refugee and asylum law, while using the new European subsidiary protection status to extend protection to those in need of it who fall outside the refugee definition.