The Council of Europe and the European Union’s Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) published on Friday 9 July a joint note on “European standards on legal remedies, complaints mechanisms, and effective investigations at borders”.
Based on the European Convention on Human Rights–which binds the 47 member States of the Council of Europe–and on European Union law, these standards recall that under these bodies of law, asylum seekers and refugees can access effective remedies at national level.
Therefore, it is incumbent on States to establish mechanisms for migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees to lodge administrative or judicial complaints when they believe that their rights have been violated at the border. It is up to States to ensure that these complaints are effectively investigated.
The note provides detailed information on both complaint mechanisms and investigations.
It complements a previous note entitled ‘Fundamental rights of refugees, asylum applicants and migrants at the European borders’, published in March 2020.
Link to the note: https://bit.ly/3hu2fKZ (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)