Author
According to Article 92 Asylum Code, safe countries of origin are:
- Those included in the common list of safe countries of origin by the Council of the EU; and
- Third countries, in addition to those of case (a), which are included in the national list of safe countries of origin and which shall be established and apply for the examination of applications for international protection and published in accordance with Article 92 paragraph 5, issued by a Joint Ministerial Decision by the Ministers of Citizen Protection and Foreign Affairs, following a recommendation of the Director of the Asylum Service.
A country shall be considered as a “safe country of origin” if, on the basis of legislation in force and of its application within the framework of a democratic system and the general political circumstances, it can be clearly demonstrated that persons in these countries do not suffer from persecution, generally and permanently, nor torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, nor a threat resulting from the use of generalised violence in situations of international or internal armed conflict.[1]
To designate a country as a “safe country of origin”, the authorities must take into account inter alia the extent to which protection is provided against persecution or ill-treatment through:[2]
- The relevant legal and regulatory provisions of the country and the manner of their application;
- Compliance with the ECHR, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), namely as regards non-derogable rights as defined in Article 15(2) ECHR, the Convention against Torture and the Convention on the Rights of the Child;
- Respect of the non-refoulement principle in line with the Refugee Convention; and
- Provision of a system of effective remedies against the violation of these rights.
A country may be designated as a “safe country of origin” for a particular applicant only if, after an individual examination of the application, it is demonstrated that the applicant (a) has the nationality of that country or is a stateless person and was previously a habitual resident in that country; and (b) has not submitted any serious grounds for considering the country not to be a safe country of origin in his or her particular circumstances and in terms of his or her qualification as a beneficiary of international protection.[3] The “safe country of origin” concept is a ground for applying the Accelerated Procedure.
Until the implementation of IPA, there was no national or EU common list of safe countries. Therefore, the rules relating to safe countries of origin in Greek law had not been applied in practice and there had been no reference or interpretation of the abovementioned provisions in decision-making practice. Following a joint Ministerial Decision issued on 31 December 2019,[4] 12 countries were designated as safe countries of origin. These are Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, India, Morocco, Senegal, Togo, Tunisia and Ukraine. In January 2021 Bangladesh and Pakistan were included in the aforementioned list.[5] In February 2022, Benin, Egypt and Nepal were also added to the list.[6] The list of safe countries of origin was updated in November 2022 by Joint Ministerial Decision 708368, which removed Ukraine from the list.[7] The latest JMD[8] establishing the list of safe countries of origin was published in December 2023 and includes the countries mentioned in the previous JMD.
Data on the number of asylum applications submitted by citizens of countries considered as safe countries of origin throughout 2023 have since not been provided by the MoMA, even though GCR has requested it on a yearly basis. Instead, following the latest such request sent by GCR in January 2024, the MoMA replied by referring GCR to the Ministry’s website “and in particular at the link https://migration.gov.gr/statistika/ [where] the monthly newsletters are published, alongside relevant annexes, which include summary and detailed statistical data on the work of the First Reception Service, the Asylum Service and the Appeals Authority. Yet a closer look at the public sources referred to by the MoMA reveals that the specific data are not available for all the relevant countries with the exception of Pakistan and Egypt. According to Annex A (p.6), 4.077 asylum applications were submitted by Pakistani nationals and 2.498 by Egyptian nationals.[9]
According to Art. 88 (7 f) of the Asylum Code, asylum applications of applicants for international protection coming from “safe countries of origin” are examined under the Accelerated Procedure.
[1] Article 92(3) of Asylum Code.
[2] Article 92 (4) of Asylum Code.
[3] Article 92 (2) of Asylum Code.
[4] Joint Ministerial Decision No 1302/20.12.2019, Gov. Gazette 4907/B/31.12.2019.
[5] Joint Ministerial Decision No 778/2021, Gov. Gazette 317/Β/29-1-2021.
[6] Joint Ministerial Decision No 78391/2022, Gov Gazette 667/Β/15-02-2022
[7] Joint Ministerial Decision No 708368/2022, Gov Gazette 6012/Β/25.11.2022 available at: https://bit.ly/4d2bflc.
[8] Joint Ministerial Decision No 527235/2023, Gov Gazette 6844/Β/5.12.2022 available at: https://bit.ly/4d2bflc.
[9] MoMA, Statistics, Consolidated Reports – Overview: December 2023 – International Protection | Appendix A, available at: https://bit.ly/3TxX9jL.