Author
The notion of “safe country of origin” is defined with reference to the conditions for “safe third countries” laid down in Article 20(1)(d) of the Asylum Act. The application of the safe country of origin concept is a ground for applying the urgent procedure (see Regular Procedure: Fast-Track Processing).
There is no widespread practice on the use of this concept, although the Audiencia Nacional reasoned in 2016 that Morocco and Algeria qualify as a “safe countries of origin” on the ground that they are “safe third countries”, without referring to separate criteria.[1] It seems that the concept is rarely used in practice.
However, it has to be underlined that in the last years, the Spanish Government is granting protection to Moroccan national in specific cases, such as when, political grounds (i.e. those coming from the Rif region), LGTBI+, and gender-based violence grounds of persecution are deemed to exist.
[1] Audiencia Nacional, Decision SAN 4076/2016, 17 October 2016; Decision SAN 3838/2016, 17 October 2016.