Author
According to the LITP, international protection shall be revoked if:[1]
- Reasons for exclusion are subsequently established;
- It is established that status was recognised on the basis of incorrectly presented or omitted facts, false presentation of important facts and circumstances, or the use of unreliable documents or other documents which were decisive for the approval of international protection; or
- The person to whom international protection was granted represents a risk to the national security or public order of the Republic of Croatia.
After establishing that circumstances have arisen relating to the revocation of international protection, the Ministry of Interior shall inform the asylee or beneficiary of subsidiary protection of the reasons for revocation and shall allow him or her to make an oral statement about those circumstances for the record.
The Ministry of Interior renders a decision to revoke the decision approving international protection. A law suit may be brought before the Administrative Court against that decision within 8 days from the day the decision is delivered.
A third-country national or stateless person who represents a risk to the national security or public order of the Republic of Croatia as provided above, whilst in the Republic of Croatia, shall enjoy rights pursuant to the 1951 Convention, especially in relation to the prohibition of discrimination, freedom of religion, access to courts, education, non-punishment of irregular entry or stay, expulsion and respect of the non-refoulement principle.
In 2018, the Ministry of Interior revoked international protection for 3 persons (2 asylees and 1 holder of subsidiary protection). Out of those, one asylum status of an Afghan national and one subsidiary protection status of unknown citizenship were revoked on the basis that person to whom international protection was granted represented a risk to the national security or public order of the Republic of Croatia, while one asylum status of an Iraqi national was revoked on the basis that reasons for exclusion were subsequently established.[2]
In 2020, Are You Syrious? (AYS) reported that an asylum status was annulled for a person who used to be their volunteer and is also a partner of the only full-time employee in AYS, so AYS believes that this is a continuation of pressure towards their organisation. The case concerned an asylee from Iraq, who was offered to become an informant of the Ministry of the Interior / Security and Intelligence Agency. He was threatened that his status would be annulled if he refuses. Given that he still decided to refuse the offer, his refugee status was annulled in May 2020, with the explanation that he had falsely presented the facts in his case, and was declared a threat to national security.[3]
According to the Ministry of Interior, 2 asylum statuses (applications from 2016 and 2017) and 3 subsidiary protection (applications from 2009) were annulled in 2020.[4]
[1] Article 50 LITP.
[2] Information provided by the Ministry of Interior, 28 January 2019.
[3] Information provided by AYS, 2 February 2020.
[4] Source: Ministry of Interior, Statistical overview of basic safety indicators and work results in 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/2QsZP4H, 163.