Author
The law does not foresee specific procedural guarantees for vulnerable asylum seekers, except for the special rule on unaccompanied asylum-seeking children who are entitled to have their application examined through an urgent procedure, which halves the duration of the whole process. As explained in Regular Procedure: Fast-Track Processing, the urgent procedure reduces time limits for the whole asylum process from 6 months to 3. Beyond this, the existing protocols on unaccompanied children and victims of trafficking do not imply special guarantees.
The OAR stated that its staff is trained on EUAA training modules, and, since 2023 the office started to create special units (i.e. children) dealing with cases of applicants from vulnerable groups.
In view of the General Elections, in its set of proposals to the political parties, the Platform for Childhood (Plataforma de Infancia) asked to guarantee the rights of children, notably requesting for the asylum procedure and the asylum reception system are adapted to the needs of children, and that they guarantee their rights, including the right to be heard, to be informed, and that their best interest is assured in any decision affecting the child.[1] A similar proposal was made by UNICEF.[2]
Several concerns regarding the measures and provisions regarding identification, age assessment and protection of unaccompanied children are discussed in Identification.
Although the Asylum Law does not foresee the exemption of persons with special needs from the Border Procedure, in practice the OAR makes exceptions for applicants such as pregnant women or persons requiring medical assistance, presumed trafficking victims, who are admitted to the territory.[3]
[1] Plataforma de Infancia, ‘Propuestas de Infancia para programas electorales Elecciones Generales 2023’, June 2023, available here.
[2] UNICEF, ‘En estas elecciones, gana la infancia. Contribución de UNICEF España a los Programas Electorales’, June 2023, available here.
[3] Information provided by Accem’s legal service in April 2023.