You are here: Parliament home page > Parliamentary business > Publications and Records > Committee Publications > All Select Committee Publications > Commons Select Committees > European Scrutiny > European Scrutiny
EU Asylum Reform Contents

4Establishing an EU framework for the resettlement of individuals in need of international protection

Committee’s assessment

Legally and politically important

Committee’s decision

Not cleared from scrutiny; further information requested; opt-in decision recommended for debate on the floor of the House together with Council document 11316/16, a proposal for a Regulation 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 and amending Council Directive 2003/109/EC concerning the status of third country nationals who are long-term residents; Council document 11317/16, a proposal for a Regulation establishing a common procedure for international protection in the European Union and repealing Directive 2013/32/EU; and Council document 11318/16, a proposal for a Directive laying down standards for the reception of applicants for international protection (recast)—decisions reported on 14 September 2016; drawn to the attention of the Home Affairs Committee

Document details

Proposal for a Regulation establishing a Union Resettlement Framework

Legal base

Article 78(2)(d) and (g) TFEU, ordinary legislative procedure, QMV

Department

Home Office

Document Numbers

(37966), 11313/16, COM(16) 468

Summary and Committee’s conclusions

4.13,673 individuals lost their lives crossing the Mediterranean in 2015. More than 3,000 have died since the beginning of 2016, despite efforts to coordinate more effective search and rescue operations.189 Although the flow of migrants in the Eastern Mediterranean, from Turkey to Greece, has fallen substantially since March following the implementation of an agreement between the EU and Turkey to stem irregular migration, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) reports that one in every 24 migrants died attempting the Central Mediterranean crossing from North Africa to Italy in the first six months of 2016.190 In August, the non-governmental organisation Médécins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported that it had assisted with the rescue of around 3,000 people in a single day, part of a larger influx of nearly 6,500 individuals attempting the perilous sea crossing. It has urged the EU to “put in place measures that will provide safe and legal alternatives for refugees and migrants to access the assistance and protection they are desperately seeking”.191

4.2Resettlement is intended to provide individuals who are fleeing persecution or armed conflict with a safe and legal means of entry to a country of refuge, without the need to resort to treacherous journeys over land and sea. Resettlement also cuts off at source the people smuggling networks which exploit the vulnerability of migrants, mitigates the risk of large-scale and spontaneous (unplanned) inflows of irregular migrants, and helps to alleviate the pressure on countries and regions hosting a disproportionate number of displaced individuals.

4.3According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), around one million refugees and migrants made their way to Europe in 2015, constituting one of the largest movements of displaced people through European borders since the Second World War. It expects resettlement needs in Europe to increase from 214,972 individuals in 2016 to 306,950 in 2017, fuelled by the conflict in Syria and the need to alleviate the pressure on neighbouring Turkey, since 2015 the largest refugee-hosting country in the world. The scale of projected resettlement needs contrasts starkly with the efforts made by EU Member States in 2015—17 of the 28 Member States resettled a total of only 9,629 individuals (1,768 in the UK).192

4.4The EU provides funding to support Member States’ resettlement efforts, based on their own national or multilateral resettlement programmes. To encourage a more collaborative approach, the EU has also agreed common resettlement priorities—Member States receive a higher level of funding for individuals resettled from an EU list of priority countries or regions or who are considered to be vulnerable.193 There is, however, no EU framework establishing a comprehensive set of rules covering eligibility for resettlement, admission procedures, the status of individuals resettled within the EU, and the funding available for resettlement. The Commission has therefore proposed a Regulation creating such a framework. It believes this will also reduce divergences in Member States’ resettlement practices and strengthen the EU’s leverage at an international level. The Commission anticipates that a more structured EU approach would contribute to a gradual “scaling up” of Member States’ collective resettlement efforts and enable the EU to contribute more effectively to global resettlement initiatives by making a single, EU-wide resettlement pledge. It says that its proposal should “discourage irregular and dangerous journeys and save lives” by offering “alternative legal pathways”.194

4.5According to the EU Commissioner for Migration (Dimitris Avramopoulos), the proposed Regulation represents “a major step” towards opening “a genuine legal window” for individuals in need of international protection and closing “the irregular backdoor” exploited by people smuggling networks. Member States would, as now, continue to determine how many individuals they are willing to resettle each year. However, they would only be eligible to receive EU funding for individuals resettled on the basis of the proposed EU settlement framework—purely national resettlement schemes would no longer qualify for financial support from the EU budget.

4.6The proposed Regulation forms part of a wider package of measures to reform the common European asylum system—a body of EU rules determining who qualifies for international protection, the procedures applicable to asylum claims and how asylum seekers are to be treated while their claims are being examined. The purpose of the proposed reforms is to develop “an integrated, sustainable and holistic migration policy, based on solidarity and fair sharing of responsibilities, which can function effectively both in times of calm and crisis”.195 All of the proposals are subject to the UK’s Title V (justice and home affairs) opt-in, meaning that the UK will only be bound by them if the Government decides to opt in.

4.7Many stakeholders—the UN Refugee Agency, the International Organisation for Migration, and non-governmental organisations providing practical support and assistance to migrants and refugees—have a keen interest in the Commission’s reform proposals and in the UK’s policies and practices while it remains a member of the EU and once it has left. We reproduce in an Annex to this chapter the views submitted by one such non-governmental organisation, the International Rescue Committee.

4.8The Immigration Minister (Mr Robert Goodwill) supports the use of resettlement to create “safe and legal routes to Europe” and to discourage individuals in need of international protection from embarking on “dangerous and illegal journeys” whilst also relieving the pressure on countries hosting large numbers of displaced people. He nevertheless questions whether the EU has the competence to act on resettlement and considers that resettlement schemes are “best decided at national level”. He sets out the factors which the Government will take into account in deciding whether or not to opt into the proposed Regulation as well as the Government’s position on the main elements of the Commission proposal.

4.9The Minister’s predecessor (James Brokenshire) told us in February that “there is no competence in the Treaties for the EU to act on resettlement and that this should be left to Member States”.196 The Minister now tells us that “there is no explicit competence under the EU Treaties for the EU to act on resettlement” (our emphasis), leaving open the possibility that there may be an implied competence to act based on the powers given to the EU to develop a common policy on asylum, subsidiary and temporary protection. We ask the Minister to clarify the Government’s position. Does the EU have the necessary competence to act? If not, does the Government intend to challenge the validity of the Regulation (if adopted) in the Court of Justice. Alternatively, does the Government consider that it would be sufficient for the UK not to opt in?

4.10The Minister’s subsidiarity analysis focuses exclusively on the question of competence, without addressing the justification advanced by the Commission for EU action. We consider that the Government should provide an assessment of the Commission’s justification. We therefore ask the Minister to consider whether the objectives of the proposed EU resettlement framework—reducing divergences in national resettlement practices and procedures, increasing the EU’s influence in policy dialogues with third countries, and alleviating the pressure on countries hosting a disproportionate number of displaced individuals—can be sufficiently achieved by Member States themselves or warrant action at EU level. Does he agree with the Commission that the adoption of an EU resettlement framework would help to “scale up” Member States’ collective resettlement efforts and strengthen the EU’s contribution to global resettlement initiatives?

4.11The Minister does not object to the Commission’s choice of a directly applicable Regulation to establish the EU resettlement framework, despite having raised sovereignty concerns in relation to proposed Regulations determining who qualifies for international protection and establishing a common procedure for examining applications for international protection.197 Should we infer that no similar concerns arise in relation to resettlement, or that the Government is already minded not to opt into the proposal?

4.12The Minister says that he supports the use of resettlement to create safe and legal routes to Europe and to discourage dangerous and illegal journeys, but questions the definition of resettlement in the proposed Regulation which includes individuals displaced within their own country as well as those displaced to a third country. We ask the Minister to explain why he considers it necessary to draw a distinction between internal and external displacement and how such a distinction can be reconciled with the broader policy objectives he supports.

4.13The Minister’s main criticism of the proposed Regulation is that it would establish “mandatory redistributive mechanisms” similar to those already in place for the relocation of asylum seekers within the EU, rather than supporting “commitments made on a national, voluntary basis”.198 It is not clear to us that this is what is intended. The First Vice-President of the EU Commission (Frans Timmermans) has said that “Member States will decide how many people need to be resettled each year”.199 Article 7 of the proposed Regulation, which states that the EU resettlement plan agreed by the Council each year shall include “details about the participation of Member States […] and their contributions to the total number of persons to be resettled”, does not suggest that participation would be mandatory or that Member States would be unable to determine individually the scale of the contribution they intend to make. We ask the Minister for his views.

4.14The proposed Regulation would cut off EU funding for resettlement based on purely national schemes. The Minister does not address the financial implications for the UK if the Government were to decide not to opt in. We ask him to quantify the potential loss based on the proportion of existing UK resettlement activity which depends on EU funding.

4.15Our previous chapters on the Commission’s asylum reform package note the emphasis placed on the interdependence of all of its reform proposals. The proposed Regulation would add a new element to the existing body of EU asylum laws, establishing an EU framework for resettlement which seeks to operate “upstream”, reducing the spontaneous arrival of large numbers of irregular migrants whose claims for international protection have overwhelmed the capacity of some Member States’ asylum systems. We consider that it would be appropriate to include the proposed Regulation in the opt-in debate we have recommended on the other elements of the asylum reform package. We suggest that the debate should consider:

4.16We would like to hear whether there are any elements of the reform package which the Government would wish to replicate in its own domestic asylum laws or practices once the UK has left the EU and what impact differential rules on resettlement procedures in the EU and the UK may be expected to have on the UK asylum system post-Brexit.

4.17The proposed Regulation remains under scrutiny. As well as providing the information we have requested, we ask the Minister for an indication of the initial reactions of other Member States to the Commission’s reform package and progress reports on any negotiations that take place before the opt-in debate. We also ask him to respond to the concerns raised with us by the International Rescue Committee. We draw this chapter to the attention of the Home Affairs Committee.

Full details of the documents

Proposal for a Regulation establishing a Union Resettlement Framework and amending Regulation (EU) No 516/2014: (37966), 11313/16, COM(16) 468.

Background

4.18The proposed Regulation builds on two recent EU initiatives to promote a more coherent approach to resettlement and other forms of humanitarian admission and to address a significant imbalance in the efforts made by different Member States. In July 2015, all 28 EU Member States (plus, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein) agreed collectively to resettle a total of 22,504 individuals in need of international protection during the period 2015–17, of whom 2,200 were to be resettled in the UK. The agreement makes clear that resettlement is based on “multilateral and national schemes, reflecting the specific situations of Member States”.200 As UNHCR has noted, the agreement is significant also as a number of countries—Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia—are implementing formal resettlement programmes for the first time.201 A year on from the agreement reached last July, Member States have resettled 8,268 individuals, mainly from Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey.202

4.19In January 2016, following a sharp increase in the number of irregular migrants crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece, the Commission adopted a Recommendation (which is not legally binding) inviting Member States to participate in a Voluntary Humanitarian Admission Scheme with Turkey. The scheme has a dual purpose: to encourage a sustainable reduction in the number of irregular border crossings from Turkey to the EU by offering “an orderly, managed, safe and dignified” passage to the EU for up to 80,000 displaced Syrians in Turkey each year. Syrians entering the EU under the humanitarian admission scheme would be entitled to remain in their host Member State for at least one year.203

4.20The Voluntary Humanitarian Admission Scheme has been overshadowed by the agreement reached in March to end irregular migration from Turkey to the EU.204 The agreement envisages the return to Turkey of all irregular migrants crossing the Aegean to the Greek Islands. In return, EU Member States will resettle one Syrian from Turkey for each Syrian returned to Turkey (the “one for one” principle), increase aid for Syrian refugees in Turkey, accelerate efforts to lift short-stay visa requirements for Turkish nationals travelling to the Schengen area (but not to the UK), and “re-energise” Turkey’s negotiations for accession to the EU. The agreement took effect on 20 March and the first returns began in early April. By early July, Member States had resettled 803 Syrians from Turkey (764 of whom count towards the resettlement commitments agreed in July 2015).205 The Voluntary Humanitarian Admission Scheme will be activated once there is evidence of a substantial and sustainable reduction in irregular migration from Turkey to the EU.

4.21The Government has made clear that resettlement schemes are best decided at a national level and told us last December that “we will not be signing up to an EU scheme”.206 In May, the Government indicated that it viewed resettlement and humanitarian admission as “essentially the same” and that it would not participate in the Voluntary Humanitarian Admission Scheme with Turkey.207 It said that “there is no competence in the Treaties for the EU to act on resettlement and that this should be left to Member States”.208 The Government has confirmed that the UK receives funding from the EU’s Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund to support resettlement to the UK, but that the allocation is used to meet the UK’s national priorities.209

4.22In response to the crisis in Syria, the Government announced in September 2015 that it would expand the UK’s Syrian Vulnerable Person Resettlement Programme with a view to resettling up to 20,000 Syrian refugees in the UK during this Parliament.210 Earlier this year, the Government made a further commitment to resettle an additional 3,000 vulnerable refugee children and their families from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.211 In May, the Government accepted the revised “Dubs’ amendment” to the Immigration Bill which provides for a specified (but, as yet, undetermined) number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children to be relocated to the UK from other European countries.212 The Government indicated that it would seek to relocate children already registered in Greece, Italy or France before 20 March, the date on which the EU’s deal with Turkey to prevent further irregular migration took effect. It also indicated that it would not put “a fixed number on arrivals” and that the first arrivals were expected “before the end of the year”.213

The proposed Regulation

4.23The purpose of the proposed Regulation is to establish a binding EU framework for the resettlement of third country nationals and stateless individuals who are in need of international protection.214 The framework includes common criteria on eligibility for resettlement within a Member State (as well as grounds for exclusion) and common procedures on admission and other aspects of the resettlement process. It sets out the status to be accorded to individuals resettled within the EU and the financial support available to Member States. The proposed Regulation also establishes the procedures for agreeing an annual EU resettlement plan stipulating how many individuals are to be resettled in any given year, the main geographical areas they should be resettled from, and how they are to be distributed between Member States. The Commission makes clear that it will be for Member States to determine how many individuals they intend to resettle each year, acting within a framework which enables the EU to coordinate national efforts more effectively and ensures greater collective impact.215 In the following paragraphs, we summarise the main elements of the proposed Regulation.

The meaning of resettlement

4.24Resettlement is the process for admitting third country nationals or stateless people who have been displaced within their country of nationality or habitual residence or to a third country and are in need of international protection. The purpose of resettlement is to ensure that individuals who qualify for international protection are able to gain safe and legal access to a Member State in which their protection needs can be met.

Eligibility for resettlement

4.25The proposed Regulation sets out the criteria for determining whether an individual is eligible for resettlement. To qualify for resettlement, an individual must not only meet the criteria but also fall within the scope of a targeted EU resettlement scheme specifying the regions or third countries from which resettlement is to take place and those to whom it will apply. In its accompanying commentary, the Commission makes clear that meeting the eligibility criteria does not create a free-standing right to be admitted to the territory of a Member State.216

4.26Eligibility for resettlement encompasses third country nationals and stateless people who:

4.27The Commission notes that the inclusion of individuals whose vulnerability stems from their socio-economic position or who have family members already legally resident within an EU Member State “widens the classical resettlement categories” used by the UN Refugee Agency but is in keeping with the standard operating procedures developed for the resettlement of displaced Syrians from Turkey under the EU-Turkey agreement reached in March.217

4.28Third country nationals or stateless people who meet the eligibility criteria are nevertheless excluded from participating in a targeted EU resettlement scheme if they fall within any of the exclusion grounds specified in the proposed Regulation. The exclusion grounds encompass:

4.29Exclusion also applies to individuals who have previously been refused resettlement by an EU Member State on any of these grounds in the preceding five year period. Mandatory exclusion on the grounds of serious criminal behaviour or a threat to public policy, security or health must be based on “reasonable grounds”. However, the proposed Regulation gives Member States the option of excluding individuals on these grounds on the basis of prima facie evidence, in other words on the strength of supposition rather than hard evidence.

Resettlement procedures

4.30Two procedures are envisaged—an ordinary or an expedited procedure, each consisting of four stages: identification, registration, assessment, and decision. The proposed Regulation envisages that the Commission will decide which procedure should apply each time it establishes a targeted EU resettlement scheme. Both procedures only apply to individuals who have consented to being resettled and who do not subsequently withdraw their consent, for example by refusing to be resettled to a particular Member State.

The ordinary procedure

4.31According to the Commission, the ordinary procedure builds on existing resettlement standards and practices followed by EU Member States which generally provide for the initial assessment of an individual’s qualification for international protection to be carried out in the relevant third country, followed by the formal grant of refugee or subsidiary protection status by the Member State of resettlement. The ordinary procedure requires Member States to identify the individuals to whom they intend to apply the resettlement procedure, verify that they fall within the scope of a targeted EU resettlement scheme and assess whether they meet the eligibility criteria. Member States may act on the basis of a referral from the UN Refugee Agency, the proposed EU Agency for Asylum, other relevant international bodies, or on their own initiative.218

4.32Once the relevant individuals have been identified, they must be registered—a process involving the collection of personal data, including fingerprints and a facial image—and a detailed assessment made of their eligibility for resettlement. The assessment must be based on documentary evidence which may include information obtained from a personal interview or provided by the UN Refugee Agency. Preference may be given to individuals with family or social or cultural links to the Member State of resettlement (with a view to facilitating integration), provided there is no discrimination, or to individuals who have particular protection needs or vulnerabilities.219 Some elements of the assessment may be carried out by any one of the referring bodies, if so requested by the Member State of resettlement.

4.33The ordinary resettlement procedure should be completed within eight months of the date of registration but can be extended by a further four months if the assessment of eligibility involves complex issues of fact or law. In the event of a positive decision, the Member State of resettlement is required to grant refugee or subsidiary protection status (as appropriate) and offer to make all the arrangements necessary to facilitate departure from the third country concerned and effective integration on arrival in the host Member State. Once resettled in the host Member State, other elements of the EU’s asylum rule book setting out the rights conferred on those granted international protection and discouraging secondary movements between Member States will apply.220

4.34The proposed Regulation would give the Commission the power to adopt delegated acts adapting the ordinary procedure to take account of circumstances in the third country from which individuals are to be resettled, provided any changes made do not affect any of the essential elements of the procedure.

The expedited procedure

4.35The expedited procedure is a shortened version of the ordinary procedure. The Commission envisages that it would apply “where there are specific humanitarian grounds or urgent legal or physical protection needs” warranting rapid admission.221 Member States would be required to apply the same security checks as under the ordinary procedure but must take a decision on resettlement as soon as possible, and no later than four months from the date of registration. A two-month extension is possible for cases involving complex issues of fact or law. To meet these tighter deadlines, the assessment of international protection needs is limited to an examination of each individual’s eligibility for subsidiary protection rather than the more extensive examination required to qualify for refugee status. As a consequence, individuals resettled under the expedited procedure may only be granted subsidiary protection status. They may, however, apply for full refugee status on arrival in the Member State of resettlement.

Implementing the EU resettlement framework

4.36The proposed Regulation would authorise the Council to adopt (by means of an implementing act) an annual EU resettlement plan specifying the maximum total number of individuals to be resettled in the coming year, the Member States participating in the EU resettlement plan and the number of individuals they are willing to resettle, and overall geographical priorities. A number of factors must be taken into account in deciding the countries and regions which are to be given priority for resettlement. They include:

4.37Once the Council has agreed an annual resettlement plan, the proposed Regulation would authorise the Commission to adopt (by means of implementing acts) one or more targeted EU resettlement schemes containing a detailed justification for each scheme, a “precise number” and description of the individuals to be resettled and their intended destination, the third countries or regions from which resettlement is to take place, and arrangements for cooperation amongst participating Member States and other agencies. The implementing act must also state whether the ordinary or expedited procedure is to apply as well as the date on which the scheme will take effect and its intended duration.

4.38To facilitate operational cooperation, the draft Regulation would require Member States to appoint national contact points. The Commission anticipates that the proposed EU Agency for Asylum would also provide technical support and assistance, supplemented by the expertise of other stakeholders such as the International Organisation for Migration.

High-Level Resettlement Committee

4.39The proposed Regulation provides for the creation of a consultative High-Level Resettlement Committee, chaired by the Commission and comprising representatives of the European Parliament, Council, Commission, the EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, and Member States, to provide political guidance on the implementation of the EU resettlement framework. The proposed EU Agency for Asylum, the UN Refugee Agency and the International Organisation for Migration may also be invited to attend, as well as representatives of Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein if they choose to associate themselves with the implementation of the annual EU resettlement plan.

EU funding for resettlement

4.40Member States would receive a lump sum payment of €10,000 (£8,265) from the EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund for each individual resettled under the EU resettlement framework. The proposed Regulation would amend the 2014 Regulation establishing the Fund to make clear that resettlement based on national resettlement schemes (outside the EU framework) would no longer qualify for EU funding—the 2014 Regulation currently provides for a lump sum payment of €6,000 (£5,052)222 for each individual resettled under a national scheme.

4.41The Commission underlines “the important link” between the number of individuals resettled within the EU and the EU budget. It says that it will therefore publish its proposal for the annual EU resettlement plan at the same time as its proposal for the EU’s draft annual budget. This would leave the Council two months in which to adopt an implementing act establishing the annual EU resettlement plan for the following year.223

Legal base, choice of legal instrument and subsidiarity

4.42The proposed Regulation is based on Article 78(2)(d) and (g) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). Article 78 establishes the EU’s competence to develop “a common policy on asylum, subsidiary protection and temporary protection with a view to offering appropriate status to any third-country national requiring international protection and ensuring compliance with the principle of non-refoulement”. Article 78(2)(d) authorises the EU to adopt measures establishing “common procedures for the granting and withdrawing of uniform asylum or subsidiary protection status”. Article 78(2)(g) provides for “partnership and cooperation with third countries for the purpose of managing inflows of people applying for asylum or subsidiary or temporary protection”.

4.43The Commission views the proposed Regulation as an integral part of the measures constituting the common European asylum system and an important tool in managing the inflows of third country nationals and stateless individuals by providing “legal pathways to international protection in partnership and cooperation with third countries”.224 It considers that some degree of harmonisation is necessary to:

4.44According to the Commission’s First Vice-President (Frans Timmermans):

“Ad hoc schemes have delivered some results so far, but the new procedures put on the table today mean that we will work with national governments at an early stage to increase and pool efforts and make this work better.”225

4.45The Commission underlines the synergies with other aspects of its asylum reform package. It notes, for example, that the new fairness mechanism which is a key feature of its proposed reform of the Dublin rules (the rules allocating responsibility for each application for international protection made within the EU to a single Member State) and which is intended to ensure a more equitable sharing of responsibility amongst Member States, will take into account the number of individuals resettled in each Member State. Changes proposed to the EU’s asylum database—Eurodac—will enable Member States to store the personal data of resettled individuals in order to track (and deter) secondary movements between Member States.226

4.46The Commission considers that the EU resettlement framework should take the form of a directly applicable Regulation “so as to achieve a degree of convergence for the resettlement procedure that corresponds to the degree of convergence for the asylum procedure”.227 Moreover, the Commission argues that a Regulation is the most appropriate instrument as the EU resettlement framework will depend for its implementation on the adoption of further implementing acts by the Council (the annual EU resettlement plan) and the Commission (targeted EU resettlement schemes).

The Minister’s Explanatory Memorandum of 4 August 2016

4.47The Minister expresses the Government’s support for resettlement as a means of creating safe and legal routes to Europe for individuals in need of international protection, discouraging dangerous and illegal journeys, and supporting countries bearing the heaviest migratory pressures. He recognises that asylum policy is “transnational in nature” and that it is an area in which competence is shared between the EU and Member States and in which the EU may, “in principle”, legitimately act. He nevertheless questions whether the EU has competence to act, observing:

“The Government remains of the view that there is no explicit competence under the Treaties for the EU to act on resettlement.”228

4.48The Minister reiterates the Government’s position that “resettlement schemes are best decided at national level”, adding that the UK has its own established processes and will not therefore use the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) developed by the EU to implement its resettlement commitments under the agreement reached with Turkey in March. These SOPs also form the basis for the procedures set out in the proposed Regulation.229

4.49Turning to the substance of the proposed Regulation, the Minister comments:

“The Commission proposes to apply burden-sharing mechanisms to calculate the number of individuals to be resettled by each Member State under the Union Resettlement Framework. This mirrors the approach to burden-sharing contained in the Commission’s proposed recast of the Dublin III Regulation and for the EU relocation schemes, which the UK opposes. The UK Government, in common with other Member States, (some of which are challenging the legality of Council Decisions on relocation in the Court of Justice of the European Union) is against the use of mandatory redistributive mechanisms in relation to relocation or resettlement schemes, instead supporting commitments made on a national, voluntary basis.”230

4.50The Minister notes that the definition of resettlement in the proposed Regulation differs from that used by the UK as it would apply to individuals in need of international protection who are displaced within their own country. He continues:

“The UK only accepts individuals for resettlement where they have left their country of nationality. This aligns with the definition of a refugee under the 1951 Refugee Convention of the United Nations.”231

4.51The eligibility criteria for resettlement set out in the proposed Regulation also differ from those used by the UK, which are based on UNHCR definitions of vulnerability. The Minister observes:

“The inclusion of those with family links and socio-economic vulnerability as a vulnerability category significantly broadens the scope of the proposed scheme.”232

4.52The Minister “broadly agrees” with the grounds for exclusion from resettlement and supports the emphasis placed by the Commission on resettlement from third countries which demonstrate a willingness to cooperate with the EU in the area of asylum and migration, adding:

“Resettlement should be used as part of a strategy to improve third countries’ efforts to reduce irregular migration into the EU, to cooperate with the EU on returns of irregular migrants, to improve protection arrangements and to improve their own asylum systems.”233

4.53He also supports close cooperation with stakeholders to ensure that the EU resettlement scheme operates effectively, including “exploring synergies between an EU resettlement scheme and the resettlement schemes of other third countries, where this would create efficiencies and be in the best interests of individuals to be resettled”.234

4.54The Minister notes that the proposed use of the UN Refugee Agency to identify and refer individual cases for resettlement aligns with UK practices, but says that the proposed involvement of the EU Agency for Asylum in “proactively identifying cases for resettlement” would extend the current mandate of the European Asylum Support Office (which the Agency would replace). He notes also that the Commission’s proposal for a new recast Eurodac Regulation would include provision for the personal data of resettled individuals to be stored in the database, even though they have not lodged an application for international protection in the Member State of resettlement. He continues:

“This raises the question as to whether the scope of future amendment to the EURODAC III proposal should also include individuals admitted for resettlement under separate, national schemes for a consistent approach towards individuals admitted under resettlement. The Government is in principle supportive of such an approach.”235

The UK’s Title V opt-in decision

4.55The Minister sets out the Government’s position on the outcome of the referendum on UK membership of the EU in familiar terms:

“On 23 June, the EU referendum took place and the people of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. Until exit negotiations are concluded, the UK remains a full member of the European Union and all the rights and obligations of EU membership remain in force. During this period the Government will continue to negotiate, implement and apply EU legislation.”236

4.56He confirms that the UK’s Title V (justice and home affairs) opt-in applies to the proposed Regulation and that the three-month deadline for notifying the UK’s opt-in decision is expected to expire on 4 December (time starts to run from the date on which the last language version is published). The Minister sets out the factors which will help to inform the Government’s opt-in decision, adding that “the Government is committed to taking all opt-in decisions on a case-by-case basis, putting the national interest at the heart of the decision making process”. The main factors are:

UK resettlement schemes

4.57The Minister describes the resettlement schemes currently operated by the UK to bring individuals in need of international protection directly to the UK.

“In July 2015, the UK Government agreed that persons resettled through our existing resettlement programmes would contribute towards the EU resettlement numbers. Under the Syrian Vulnerable Person’s Resettlement Scheme, we have resettled 1,854 of the most vulnerable Syrians from countries such as Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan and are on track to resettle 20,000 by the end of the current Parliament. In April, the Government announced that it would work with the UNHCR to resettle vulnerable children from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Under this scheme, the UK will resettle several hundred individuals in the first year with a view to resettling up to 3,000 individuals over the lifetime of this Parliament. The majority of these will be children, who will be resettled with their family members or carers where appropriate. These programmes are in addition to our long-running Gateway resettlement scheme, which has resettled 6,600 individuals since 2004.

“In May this year the Government also committed to transfer unaccompanied refugee children in Europe to the UK. This is reflected in the Immigration Act 2016. Over 20 children who meet the criteria in the Act have been accepted for transfer to the UK since it received Royal Assent in May, the majority of whom have arrived in the UK. We are in active discussions with the UNHCR, UNICEF, NGOs and the French, Italian, and Greek governments to strengthen and speed up mechanisms to identify, assess and transfer children in Europe who meet the criteria to the UK, where this is in their best interests. As is required by the Immigration Act, we are working closely with local authorities in the UK to establish their capacity to host more unaccompanied children. The UK will transfer children who were already registered in Europe before the EU-Turkey deal came into force on 20 March. As such, we avoid creating a policy that places children at additional risk or encourages them to place their lives in the hands of the people traffickers and criminal gangs. The Government has been clear that we do not want to be part of an EU relocation scheme for asylum seekers. This scheme is limited to unaccompanied refugee children and is being implemented through bilateral discussion with Member States. We remain of the view that relocation schemes within Europe risk creating unintended consequences or perverse incentives for people to put their lives into the hands of traffickers.”238

Timetable for negotiations

4.58Following a “high-level presentation” of the proposed Regulation to the Council in July and a short exchange of views, detailed negotiations are expected to begin in September. The Minister considers than an agreement is unlikely to be reached this year.

Previous Committee Reports

None on this document, but see our earlier Reports on Commission Recommendations on a European resettlement scheme and on a voluntary humanitarian admission scheme with Turkey: Second Report HC 342-ii (2015–16), chapter 6 (21 July 2015), Sixteenth Report HC 342-xv (2015–16), chapter 10 (6 January 2016), Twenty-fourth Report HC 342-xxiii (2015-16), chapter 9 (24 February 2016), Twenty-fifth Report HC 342-xxiv (2015–16), chapter 25 (9 March 2016) and Third Report HC 71-ii (2016–17), chapter 25 (25 May 2016).

Annex: Submission from the International Rescue Committee UK

Executive Summary

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) welcomes the opportunity from the House of Commons European Scrutiny Committee to submit our views on the European Union’s (EU) proposed establishment of the Union Resettlement Framework. This proposal will be an indication of Europe’s response to the global refugee crisis and it will hopefully reaffirm Europe’s commitment to provide humane, comprehensive and long-lasting solutions for the world’s most in need; asylum seekers and refugees fleeing violence, conflict and persecution. This proposal is currently being presented by the Commission to the European Parliament and Council; the United Kingdom (UK) will have to decide whether to opt-in or out of the Framework. This submission sets out the IRC’s views on the aforementioned EU proposal and our proposed amendments.

Section I—The International Rescue Committee

The IRC is one of the only non-governmental organisations (NGO) in the world that is simultaneously, a humanitarian aid organisation and a resettlement agency, covering the entire arc of displacement. In 2015, we assisted over 23 million people.

We work in some 40 conflict-affected and fragile countries around the world to deliver life-saving assistance to people affected by war and disaster, and remain working with communities to assist with rebuilding through the post-crisis phase. The IRC works in Greece and Serbia providing humanitarian aid to refugees. Our office in Germany provides technical assistance on refugee integration. The IRC is one of the largest of the nine resettlement agencies in the U.S. We assist with resettlement and support permanent integration of the most vulnerable refugees across 29 cities. We have resettled more than 370,000 people from 119 countries into the U.S. over the past four decades.

Section II—The Union Resettlement Framework

There are currently over 65 million people displaced from their homes, including 21.3 million refugees—this refugee crisis is not only a European one, it is global in scale.

This is now the new normal. Large numbers of people are displaced for longer than ever before, and conflicts are growing in size and complexity by the week. The EU should use resettlement as a global tool to offer safety to its fair and achievable share of the 1.19 million refugees in need, and with no other durable solution. Refugee resettlement is not an alternative to rights to asylum, and it must be additional to other pathways to protection, such as humanitarian visas, medical evacuation programmes, private sponsorship and/or family reunification. But it offers an element of structure because the arrivals are planned, it enables more responsibility-sharing with those countries already hosting more than their fair of refugees, and refugees do not need to risk their lives attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea. It also enhances the prospect of successful integration into Europe.

In the past, EU resettlement has consisted only of a handful of national resettlement programmes and now 14 EU Member States239 have committed to resettlement in some form. Across these schemes, there is little coordination and programmes vary widely. In 2014, the EU only resettled just under 9,000240 refugees under the Joint EU Resettlement Programmes.

The IRC believes that the proposal to establish a robust and permanent EU resettlement framework is a missing piece in the EU’s response to the global crisis that is facing the world today. The time is now for EU decision-makers, including the UK, to step up to their responsibility by proactively and constructively negotiating the Union Resettlement Framework, with the aim of swift adoption. This would mark the first EU-wide scheme for the legal and safe entry of refugees into the region. The scheme should be permanent with robust annual targets that would make a concrete impact in providing a long-lasting sanctuary to the refugees most in need of resettlement.

The IRC asks the EU to resettle a minimum of 108,000 refugees a year over five years. This would add up to 540,000 refugees.241 This would be the EU’s fair and achievable share of the global responsibility.

Consequently, the IRC welcomes the European Commission’s proposal of a permanent resettlement framework which would define a single procedure for resettlement across the EU. In particular, IRC welcomes the establishment of an expedited procedure within the Commission proposal. This expedited procedure should provide the opportunity to fast-track the most vulnerable refugees in need of urgent resettlement.

Drawing on IRC’s four decades of experience of resettling and supporting the integration of refugees in the U.S., and our experience of providing life-saving assistance to people in need in over 40 countries—including in Europe. We recommend the following amendments to Union Resettlement Framework:

i)Resettlement should be provided where the needs of those displaced are the greatest, and not made conditional on the government of the country that hosts them cooperating in other areas of policy. Vulnerable refugees should not pay for the political relationship between a third country and the EU;

ii)Guarantee the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and civil society organisations seats on the high-level resettlement committee, to ensure their knowledge on global needs and expertise on implementation is taken into account in the establishment of the annual scheme;

iii)The EU yearly target of the number of refugees to be resettled should be decided in conjunction with the European Parliament (through delegated acts). This target should be ambitious and reflect the levels of refugees in need of resettlement set out by UNHCR each year as well as the integrative capacity of each Member State;

iv)Permanent legal status should be afforded to resettled refugees and should not be dependent on skills or knowledge acquired;

v)EU teams consisting of Member State experts and coordinated and led by the European Asylum Support Office (EASO), should be deployed to third countries where refugees have sought initial refuge. From these areas, the EU teams, with the support of UNHCR, IOM and civil society organisations, can process applications for resettlement;

vi)To ensure the quick and efficient processing of applications for resettlement, an ‘operational framework’ should be created that allows for a fast-track system for the most vulnerable and the most straight-forward cases, with a second stream, staffed by the most experienced EU officials, to handle cases that need more time and consideration;

vii)Pre-departure and pre-arrival cultural orientation programmes must be mandatory for each resettled refugee;

viii)Should an EU Member State decline resettlement of a refugee, the Union Resettlement Framework must allow for another EU Member State to consider resettlement of that refugee.

Section III—The UK and the Union Resettlement Framework

A permanent EU resettlement framework would allow the EU to display the same global humanitarian leadership, and shared responsibility and values it did when developing the fundamental 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. The IRC believes that the UK should opt-in to this. This legislation has the opportunity to shape the EU’s response to the global refugee crisis and the needs of refugees today for the long-term.

If the UK Government decides not to participate in the Union Resettlement Framework, the IRC considers that the UK Government should expand its current state resettlement programmes. Nationally, the UK should resettle 15,608 refugees a year over five years. This would be just 24 refugees per year per parliamentary constituency—17 more people than the UK is already resettling by the end of this Parliament.

Resettlement is only one part of a comprehensive solution to the global refugee crisis. Therefore, the UK—and all EU Member States—must uphold their obligation to allow access to asylum for spontaneous arrivals at the borders and shores, continue to address the dire and urgent humanitarian needs worldwide through life-saving assistance, and complement resettlement with other tools that would enable safe entry into the UK for asylum seekers and refugees.

These other pathways to protection that the UK should utilise include family reunification, private sponsorship, humanitarian visas, and/or medical evacuation programmes.

Every person has the right to be reunited with their family, to help restore their dignity and to increase the potential of successful integration. Hence, the UK should proactively help refugees who have been separated from their loved ones reunite with them in the UK. The tool of family reunion should be made more flexible, humane and quicker, in order to allow refugees to be reunited with their family. The rules on family reunion should also be expanded by broadening the definition of family to include children over 18, enabling unaccompanied and/or separated refugee children to reunite with family in the UK, and widening the definition of family to include extended family members.

The UK’s new Community Sponsorship Scheme launched in July is a positive step to include the UK’s generous and dedicated community groups in the resettlement and integration of refugees.242 The IRC believes that the UK Government should expand this Scheme to establish a private sponsorship scheme, similar to the mechanism used in Canada, allowing for additional refugees to reach sanctuary in the UK through safe and legal routes.

Humanitarian visas—offered in third countries hosting refugees—would enable the asylum seeker to safely and in a documented fashion reach the state in which he or she will apply for asylum. Italy has a humanitarian corridor supported by civil society, which is a positive example of how humanitarian visas can be used. Medical evacuation programmes are already in use by some EU Member States and could be rolled out more widely to assist refugees with the most urgent medical cases.

189 See the International Organisation for Migration’s data on Migration Flows to Europe and on Recorded Deaths in the Mediterranean 2014–16.

190 See the briefing published by the IOM’s Global Migration Data Analysis Centre in August 2016.

191 See the press release issued by MSF on 30 August 2016.

192 See UNHCR’s Report on Projected Global Resettlement Needs in 2017.

193 See Regulation (EU) No 516/2014 establishing the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund for 2014-20. For the purposes of resettlement funding, vulnerable individuals encompass women and children at risk, unaccompanied minors, those with medical needs that can only be addressed through resettlement, and those with urgent legal or physical protection needs, such as victims of violence or torture.

194 See p.5 of the Commission’s explanatory memorandum accompanying the proposed Regulation.

195 See p.2 of the Commission’s explanatory memorandum accompanying the proposed Regulation.

196 See para 13 of the Explanatory Memorandum of 1 February 2016 submitted by the then Immigration Minister (James Brokenshire).

197 See chapters 1 and 2 of this Report.

198 See para 21 of the Minister’s Explanatory Memorandum.

199 See the Commission’s press release of 13 July 2016 on the proposed Regulation.

200 See the Conclusions on resettlement agreed by the representatives of the Governments of the Member States meeting within the Council on 20 July 2015. See also our Reports on the Commission Recommendation on a European resettlement scheme which preceded the Conclusions: Twenty-fifth Report HC 342-xxiv (2015–16), chapter 25 (9 March 2016), Sixteenth Report HC 342-xv (2015–16), chapter 10 (6 January 2016) and Second Report HC 342-ii (2015–16), chapter 6 (21 July 2015).

201 See UNHCR’s Report on Projected Global Resettlement Needs in 2017.

202 See Annex 3 to the Commission’s fifth report on relocation and resettlement published on 27 July 2016.

203 See our earlier Reports on the voluntary humanitarian admission scheme for Syrian refugees in Turkey: Twenty-fourth Report HC 342-xxiii (2015–16), chapter 9 (24 February 2016) and Third Report HC 71-ii (2016–17), chapter 25 (25 May 2016).

204 See the EU-Turkey Statement of 18 March 2016.

205 See Annex 3 to the Commission’s fifth report on relocation and resettlement published on 27 July 2016.

206 See the letter of 14 December 2015 from the then Immigration Minister (James Brokenshire) to the Chair of the European Scrutiny Committee.

207 See the letter of 6 May 2016 from the then Immigration Minister (James Brokenshire) to the Chair of the European Scrutiny Committee.

208 See para 13 of the Explanatory Memorandum of 1 February 2016 submitted by the then Immigration Minister (James Brokenshire).

209 See the letter of 25 February 2016 from the then Immigration Minister (James Brokenshire) to the Chair of the European Scrutiny Committee.

210 See Hansard, dated 7 September 2015 and the Government’s guidance to local authorities on the Syrian Vulnerable Person Resettlement Programme published in October 2015.

211 See the then Immigration Minister’s Written Ministerial Statement of 21 April 2016.

212 Section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 requires the Government to “make arrangements to relocate to the United Kingdom and support a specified number of unaccompanied refugee children from other countries in Europe”. The number of children to be resettled is to be determined in consultation with local authorities.

213 See the press release issued by the Prime Minister’s office on 4 May 2016.

214 The term “asylum” and “international protection” are used interchangeably in this chapter. They encompass claims which result in the conferral of refugee status under the UN Refugee Convention and other forms of subsidiary protection which are not a direct result of individual persecution but where an individual would be at risk of “serious harm” (including from armed conflict) if returned to his or her country of origin

215 See the Commission’s press release of 13 July 2016 on the proposed Regulation.

216 See p.10 of the Commission’s explanatory memorandum accompanying the proposed Regulation.

217 See p.11 of the Commission’s explanatory memorandum accompanying the proposed Regulation.

218 See Article 10 of the proposed Regulation and p.12 of the Commission’s explanatory memorandum accompanying the proposed Regulation.

219 Article 10(1)(b) of the proposed Regulation precludes discrimination based on any ground and specifically lists sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age or sexual orientation.

220 See chapter 3 of this Report on the revision of EU rules on who qualifies for international protection and our earlier Report on proposed changes to the Dublin rules: Sixth Report HC 71-iv (2016–17), chapter 1 (15 June 2016).

221 See p.13 of the Commission’s explanatory memorandum accompanying the proposed Regulation.

222 € = £0.842.

223 See p.14 of the Commission’s explanatory memorandum accompanying the proposed Regulation.

224 See p.6 of the Commission’s explanatory memorandum accompanying the proposed Regulation.

225 See the Commission’s press release of 13 July 2016 on the proposed Regulation.

226 See pp.4–5 of the Commission’s explanatory memorandum accompanying the proposed Regulation.

227 See chapter 2 of this Report for details of the Commission’s proposed reform of EU asylum procedures.

228 See para 12 of the Minister’s Explanatory Memorandum.

229 See para 20 of the Minister’s Explanatory Memorandum.

230 See para 22 of the Minister’s Explanatory Memorandum.

231 See para 22 of the Minister’s Explanatory Memorandum.

232 See para 22 of the Minister’s Explanatory Memorandum.

233 See para 22 of the Minister’s Explanatory Memorandum.

234 See para 22 of the Minister’s Explanatory Memorandum.

235 Details of the proposed recast Eurodac Regulation and the proposed Regulation establishing the EU Agency for Asylum can be found in our Sixth Report HC 71-iv (2016–17), chapter 2 (15 June 2016) and our Seventh Report HC 71-v (2016–17), chapter 1 (6 July 2016).

236 See para 13 of the Minister’s Explanatory Memorandum.

237 See para 16 of the Minister’s Explanatory Memorandum.

238 See paras 17–18 of the Minister’s Explanatory Memorandum.

239 The European Resettlement Network, Introduction to Resettlement in Europe, 2016, http://www.resettlement.eu/page/introduction-resettlement-europe

240 Human Rights Watch, Dispatches: The EU, Migration, and Learning to Share, 21 July 2015, https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/07/21/dispatches-eu-migration-and-learning-share

241 These figures were calculated by taking into account the population and GDP of each EU Member State. The International Rescue Committee, Pathways to Protection, March 2016, http://rescue-uk.org/sites/default/files/uploads/Pathways%20to%20protection%20-%20IRC_0.pdf

242 UK Government, Community Sponsorship Scheme launched for refugees in the UK, 19 July 2016, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/community-sponsorship-scheme-launched-for-refugees-in-the-uk



© Parliamentary copyright 2015

16 September 2016