Common European Asylum System in a Changing World

Based on the Treaty provisions mentioned above, the respective secondary legislation has been constantly developed and the so-called EU asylum acquis has resulted in a “Common European Asylum System (CEAS)” (see in more details in Chapter 2 and 3). Relevant International treaties Neither the TFEU nor the EU Charter provides a definition of the terms “asylum” or “refugee”, but both refer explicitly to the 1951 Geneva Convention and its Protocol. EU common rules on the asylum process are therefore based on the international refugee protection regime. 7 The key principles of this Convention mentioned above – such as the principle of non-refoulement – are reflected in EU asylum acquis. What are the “ other relevant treaties” referred to in Article 78(1) TFEU? They are not defined in this provision but it may be inferred from recital (34) QD (recast) that they encompass both the ECHR and other international human rights treaties. 8 In the context of the EU asylum law the following treaties should be mentioned: As the principal UN international human rights instruments are usually mentioned: • Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948; • International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), 1966 (and its Optional protocols); • International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966; • International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 1966; • Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979; • Convention against Torture, 1984; • Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989; • Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2006; and • International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance, 2006. There are other international law instruments relevant for the interpretation of the CEAS such as those treaties explicitly or implicitly referred to in Articles 12 and 17 recast QD governing exclusion from refugee status and subsidiary protection. (Charter of the United Nations 1945; Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide 1948; four Geneva Conventions 1949, and their Additional Protocols I and II 1977; International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid 1973; and Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, 1998.) It is to be noted that other instruments, such as the Statutes of the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia (1993) and Rwanda (1994) are relevant for 7 All EU Member States are signatories of the Geneva Convention, which they implement through national legislation. 8 Recital 34 of the QD states the aim to introduce a common criteria in relation to the recognition of subsidiary protection status which “should be drawn from international obligations under human rights instruments and practices existing in Member States”, see Directive 2011/95/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on standards for the qualification of third-country nationals or stateless persons as beneficiaries of international protection, for a uniform status for refugees or for persons eligible for subsidiary protection, and for the content of the protection granted.

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