On 12 March 2021, ECRE published a legal note on ‘Asylum and the UN Treaty System’.

The note aims to analyse how access to asylum can be advanced via international legal avenues, especially by focusing on the prohibition of refoulement as an imperative element of an accessible, effective and fair asylum procedure. To this end, it explores the meaning of the principle of non-refoulement under international human rights law and, in particular under the ICCPR, CAT, CEDAW, CRC, CRPD, CED and CERD.

The note focuses on the standards that the monitoring bodies responsible for the implementation of each Treaty has developed in their jurisprudence, as well as through their General Comments and Recommendations. It aims to provide an analysis of these standards in the hope that it will assist in their application in national litigation and ensure compliance with international law both in policy and decision-making.

In its conclusion, the note recognises that the case law of the UN Human rights treaties enriches the international understanding of asylum related guarantees around the world and widens the scope of non-refoulement by engaging the international responsibility of states to prevent serious human rights violations for every individual concerned.

Photo: ECRE


This article appeared in the ECRE Weekly Bulletin. You can subscribe to the Weekly Bulletin here.