The provisions of Directive (2011/95/EU) on the revocation and denial of refugee status on grounds relating to the protection of the security or society of the host Member State are valid, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled on Tuesday 14 May (joined cases C-391/16, C-77/17 and C-78/17).
Belgium refused to grant refugee status to an Ivorian and withdrew the status of a Congolese, while the Czech Republic withdrew the refugee status of a Chechen. In all three cases, both States invoked Directive (2011/95), which allows a person who poses a security threat or has been convicted of particularly serious offences to be refused or revoked refugee status.
The competent courts hearing the appeal have doubts about the validity of these provisions in the light of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU), according to which EU asylum policy must respect the Geneva Convention of July 1951. This Convention allows, in the event of a breach of the security of the host country, the expulsion or deportation of a foreign national or stateless person, but it does not provide for the loss of refugee status.
Relying on the reasoning of the Advocate General (see EUROPE 12046/31), the Court notes that the Directive seeks to ensure full compliance with the Geneva Convention. As long as a non-Member State national (or stateless person) has a well-founded fear of persecution in his or her country of origin or residence, he or she must be qualified as a refugee within the meaning of the Directive and the Geneva Convention, she adds, and this qualification is valid whether or not refugee status has been formally granted.
According to the Court, EU law grants refugees more extensive international protection than that provided by the Convention. The formal recognition of refugee status means that the refugee enjoys rights equivalent to those set out in the Convention and more protective rights deriving directly from the 'rights' Directive, such as rights to a residence permit, recognition of qualifications and health care.
The Court further emphasises that the Directive must be interpreted and applied in accordance with the rights guaranteed by the Charter. This excludes the possibility of deportation to the country of origin insofar as it prohibits torture and degrading treatment, regardless of the conduct of the person concerned, from the moment when that person could be subjected to such treatment.
Finally, according to the Court, the revocation of refugee status or the refusal to grant it does not mean that a person with a well-founded fear of persecution in his or her country of origin loses refugee status. Such a person benefits or continues to benefit from a number of rights provided for in the Convention, the enjoyment of which requires a mere physical presence in the territory of the host State.
See the judgment: http://bit.ly/2VHfj6E. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)