DOCUMENTS AND PUBLICATIONS
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT:
- On the Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European parliament on immigration and asylum policies - Report of the Committee on Civil Liberties and Internal Affairs (CclIA), 29.6.95, A4-0169/95 PE 211.476/fin., Rapp: Jan Wiebenga. Resolution A4-0169/95 PE 193.733, adopted 21.9.95.
The EP takes the view that Recommendations, Resolutions and other decisions of general application by the Council on immigration and asylum policies are "wrongly excluded from parliamentary and judicial scrutiny and are therefore not acceptable as forms of Union legislation". The EP once again urges the Commission to take its responsibility seriously in this policy area by using its right to propose legislation, and calls for "proper judicial supervision" of Justice and Home Affairs cooperation by the European Court of Justice.
The Community should develop common criteria for determining whether refugees must be granted permanent or temporary admission, it says in the resolution. "[The] principle of provisional admission must not be used to avoid offering permanent protection to refugees".
On the draft Council Resolution on the admission of third-country nationals to the territory of the Member States of the European Union for study purposes (C4-0005/95) - Report of the CclIA, 20.6.95, A4-0181/95 PE 211.488/fin., Rapp: Ernesto Caccavale. Resolution A4-0181/95 PE 193.734 adopted 22.9.95.
On a draft Council recommendation concerning a specimen bilateral readmission agreement between a member State of the EU and a third country (C4-0006/95) - Report of the CclIA A4-0184/95 PE 211.778/fin., 20.6.95, Rapp: Ms claudia Roth.
A motion for a resolution attached to the report, inter alia calls on the member states to concentrate their efforts on the integration of persons who have lived in the EU for several years and on programmes for voluntary return and reintegration in countries of origin, instead of relying on readmission agreements. The motion also stresses the need for more specific provisions stipulating that the European Human Rights Convention and the Geneva Convention on Refugees shall remain unaffected. More specifically, the report calls for additional guarantees to ensure that the human rights situation in third countries is examined comprehensively, and that asylum-seekers whose applications were not considered in depth because of the application of the safe third country concept are not sent back to third countries denying them full access to an asylum procedure.
The vote on the resolution was postponed.
UNHCR: Background paper on Turkish asylum seekers, Centre for Documentation on Refugees, Geneva, September 1994, 19 p.
Synoptical information on: asylum applications and asylum adjudication in Europe (the proportion of positive decisions on Turkish asylum applications has risen, while the number of applications has fallen); the situation of specific groups and ethnic minorities; the Turkish security forces' operations against the PKK and the Kurdish civilian population; relevant legal provisions (Anti-terror law, Penal Code); extralegal executions and torture.
Relating to the situation of the Kurds, the paper reports increased tension between Turks and Kurds and a climate of intolerance in traditionally non-Kurdish areas of Western Turkey, particularly in cities such as Adana and Mersin.
Mention is made also of special sanctions against conscientious objectors, draft evaders and deserters. According to the report, there are more than 200,000 deserters from the Turkish army.
Annual report 1995 - International Helsinki Federation (IHF), 235 p.
Contents: CSCE developments in 1994; IHF/Phare Democracy Project; Country issues (reports on the human rights situation in 35 countries, including the following Western European states: Austria, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, and Norway).
Available from: IHF, Rummelhardtgasse 2/18, A-1090 Vienna; Tel: +43/1 4027387, Fax: +43/1 4087444; E-mail: helsinki@ping.at