Training of officials receiving asylum-seekers at border points

Doc. 8288

23 December 1998

Training of officials receiving asylum-seekers at border points

Recommendation 1309 (1996)

Reply from the Committee of Ministers

adopted at the 652e meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies (15 December 1998)

The Committee of Ministers has carefully considered Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1309 (1996) on the training of officials receiving asylum-seekers at border points. Conscious of the importance and validity of the concerns expressed by the Assembly on this matter, the Committee of Ministers instructed the ad hoc Committee of Experts on the Legal Aspects of Territorial Asylum, Refugees and Stateless Persons (CAHAR) to consider what action should be taken on this Recommendation.

The CAHAR transmitted to the Committee of Ministers a draft Recommendation to member States on the training of officials who first come into contact with asylum-seekers, in particular at border points. This Recommendation was considered and adopted on 15 December 1998 (Recommendation No. R (98) 15)

Recommendation No. R (98) 15 has a twofold objective: to prevent asylum-seekers from being refused entry at borders and to afford them unimpeded access to the asylum procedure by means of appropriate initial and in-service training of officials who first come into contact with asylum-seekers, in particular at border points.

The Committee of Ministers further refers to its Recommendation No. R (98) 13 on the right to an effective remedy by rejected asylum-seekers against decisions on expulsion in the context of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The aim of this Recommendation is to provide solutions to any legal and practical problems stemming from situations in which rejected asylum-seekers claim that their expulsion exposes them to a risk of treatment contrary to Article 3. The Committee of Ministers also refers to its Recommendation No. R (97) 22 containing guidelines on the application of the safe third country concept as well as to its Recommendation No. R (94) 5 on guidelines to inspire practices of the member States of the Council of Europe concerning the arrival of asylum-seekers at European airports.