Common European Asylum System in a Changing World

(d) without prejudice to the responsibilities of the Agency, data in the Central System are lawfully recorded, stored, corrected, and erased; (e) the results of fingerprint data comparisons are lawfully processed. 3.4 Qualification Directive Directive 2011/95/EU (recast) 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. The scope of the directive covers the grounds for granting international protection, and the end of protection or the refusal to grant international protection. Rights and content of the status granted are also covered by the directive. Main aim:  The Qualification Directive sets out criteria for applicants to qualify for refugee status or subsidiary protection.  The Directive defines the rights afforded to beneficiaries of these statuses:  protection from refoulement ,  residence permits and travel documents,  access to employment,  access to education, social welfare, healthcare,  access to accommodation,  access to integration facilities.  Specific provisions for children and vulnerable persons are also contained in the Directive.  The approximation of rules on the recognition and content of statuses should help to limit the secondary movement of applicants for international protection between Member States, where such movement is caused purely by differences in legal frameworks. The Directive allows Member States to put in place or to keep more favourable standards than those set out in its provisions. It replacedQualificationDirective 2004/83/EC from2004. Some of the improvements brought by the 2011 Directive are notably the clarification of the concept of ‘particular social group’ with respect to gender-related forms of persecution (Article 10(1)(d)) as well as the adaptation of the concepts of ‘actors of protection’ to European case law (Article 7), and the explicit reference to the best interests of the child (Article 20 & Article 31). To whom Qualification Directive does not apply: Those third-country nationals or stateless persons who are allowed to remain in the territories of the Member States for reasons not due to a need for international protection but on a discretionary basis on compassionate or humanitarian grounds fall outside the scope of this Directive.

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