Italy does not offer
sufficient guarantees concerning reception facilities for asylum
seekers, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) said in a
ruling Tuesday.
The judgement was made in the context of a ruling on a case
brought by an Afghan couple and their six children against the
Swiss authorities for refusing to examine their asylum
application and deciding to send them back to Italy.
The court ruled that there would be a violation of Article
3 of the European Convention on Human Rights prohibiting inhuman
or degrading treatment if the Swiss authorities were to send the
applicants back to Italy under the Dublin Regulation without
having first obtained individual guarantees from the Italian
authorities that the applicants would be taken charge of in a
manner befitting the age of the children.
The family should also be kept together, according to the
Dublin Regulation, the system designed to determine the EU
member state responsible for examining an asylum application.
"In view of the current situation of the reception system
in Italy, the possibility that a significant number of asylum
seekers removed to that country might be left without
accommodation or might be accommodated in overcrowded
facilities, in insalubrious and violent conditions, was not
unfounded," said a court press release.
The applicants, Golajan Tarakhel and his wife Maryam Habibi
arrived on the coast of Calabria on July 16, 2011, before
travelling on to Austria and then Switzerland where they lodged
an application for asylum.
However the Swiss authorities decided not to examine the
application on the grounds that Italy was the State responsible
for examining the application and ordered the applicants'
removal to Italy.
The family subsequently lodged an application with the
ECHR against the decision.
This is the first time that the Strasborg court has ruled
against the return of asylum seekers from another European
country to Italy.
There are said to be around 20 similar cases pending before
the court.
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