CYIL vol. 9 (2018)

VĚRA HONUSKOVÁ CYIL 9 ȍ2018Ȏ they might have seen the beneficiaries of the programme as fellow ones more easily then they see refugees and other people in need today. 4. Emphasised permanency as a barrier for thoughts about a temporary refuge Today’s silence about temporary protection might have complex reasons. 65 One of them can be seen in the opposite paradigm through which today’s protection scheme is interpreted. The current protection paradigm in the EU and its member states is based on emphasised permanency. The issue of integration is present in the debates about migration and also about providing protection. It seems that the word integration is used – unintentionally – as a condition sine qua non for individuals to become a part of the society. This narrative is equivocal. Firstly, it does not reflect the wording of legal instruments. Refugee status in universal international law is designed as a temporary one. The Refugee Convention contains a cessation clause; a refugee ceases to be a refugee for instance when the conditions in their country of origin changes. 66 The change of the paradigm comes within EU law. The recast EU Qualification Directive mentions integration measures and shifts the paradigm towards permanency. 67 It may well be a misunderstanding of the word. The integration process exists independently in legal provisions and it is inherent to everybody who is a part of a society. But if there are legal consequences connected to it, for instance an increased level of protection against expulsion under Art. 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, 68 then the word cannot have two meanings at the same time: on the one hand, a process which means a smooth cooperation with society, and, on the other, a process which might be the legal reason for different treatment of a particular person. One of the future questions connected to evolutive interpretation of Art. 8 by the European Court of Human Rights would be whether the integration process might – at some moment – become irreversible and would mean the right to stay on a permanent basis. The EU Commission’s proposal of the Qualification Regulation issued in 2016 emphasised the temporariness of the 65 There are relevant sources such as the report commissioned by the EuropeanCommission. Study on theTemporary Protection Directive (Final Report) prepared by Beirens, H., Maas, S., Petronella, S., van der Velden, M., January 2016. Online at – https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/sites/homeaffairs/files/e-library/documents/policies/ asylum/temporary-protection/docs/final_report_evaluation_tpd_en.pdf [accessed 18 June 2018]. Further, there are articles analysing the temporary protection and its roots: SOPF, D. Temporary Protection in Europe After 1990: The “Right to Remain” of Genuine Convention Refugees. 6 Wash. U. J. L. & Pol’y 109 (2001). 66 See Art. 1C of the Refugee Convention. A role of art. 34 of the Convention may be questioned, but the prevailing interpretation would still be that it imposes on a state only an obligation to ease the possibility of naturalization of a person (state is under no duty to grant citizenship). See also MARX, R. “Article 34 1951 Convention”, In Zimmermann, A. (ed), The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol: A Commentary. Oxford University Press, 2011, pp. 1441-1459. 67 See Art. 34 of 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. The previous Procedural Directive contained similar wording in art. 33 (Council Directive 2004/83). 68 See MURPHY, C. The Concept of Integration in the Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. EJML 12 (2010) 23-43, p. 24. See also the approach to integration in the European Union documents. Online at – https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/legal-migration/integration_en [accessed 22 June 2018].

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