Brussels, 23/09/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 22 September, the commissioner for human rights at the Council of Europe, Thomas Hammarberg, declared that the Dublin Regulation on the asylum system in the European Union was not working and was in urgent need of revision. According to this regulation, adopted in 2003, examining asylum requests is up to the member states located on the borders of the Union, through which the majority of asylum seekers arrive. Nonetheless, Hammarberg explains in an article in his latest human rights report that, in reality, “this system is not working” and the situation even, in some extreme cases, “puts lives in danger. The Commissioner therefore considered that, “it is now high time to revise the Dublin Regulation”. This regulation, “is based on the false assumption that the national asylum systems in place in Europe all provide similar, high standards of protection to people who seek to escape from violence and persecution”. According to the Commissioner, “countries such as Greece and Malta have, during recent years, been unable to provide adequate protection because the numbers of asylum seekers have exceeded their capacity”. Hammarberg is therefore calling on member states to, "halt all transfers of asylum seekers back to countries where they face enormous difficulties in gaining access to the asylum procedures and where they do not enjoy basic safeguards such as interpretation and legal aid”. He also deplores the fact that shortcomings in the regulation have led to a heavy burden on national courts and above all the European Court of Human Rights. From 2009-2010, the Strasbourg Court received no less than 700 cases concerning asylum seekers asking for their transfers to be suspended. The Commissioner also considers another serious side-effect of the Dublin system is the increase in the use of detention for asylum seekers who are subject to transfer decisions, as the authorities in the host country fear that they may abscond before the transfer is carried out. Hammarberg also accuses northern European countries of not being cooperative as they are continuing to transfer asylum seekers to Greece. France and Germany, in particular, are currently refusing the mechanism proposed by the Commission to suspend the transfer of asylum seekers to the first country of entry. Commissioner Hammarberg says that Europe must do better in terms of reception for asylum seekers. Last year, South Africa alone took in almost as many asylum seekers as the EU 27 put together. Certain Asian and Middle Eastern countries have received even more, which according to the Commissioner, is certainly something to reflect upon. (B.C./transl.fl)