Brussels, 14/02/2003 (Agence Europe) - The United Nations High Commission for Refugees has just a memorandum to the Greek Presidency proposing closer collaboration. The UNHCR is offering to provide its expertise of the Council on refugee rights, as well as for contact between the EU and third countries (as the UNHCR did with France and the United Kingdom in the repatriation of Afghan refugees). The UNHCR concludes its memorandum with a warning about the "decline in levels of funding throughout the EU" ad stresses the need for funding to be, "significant, reliable, forthcoming, flexible, appropriate and geographically balanced". The UNHCR reminds the EU that refugees are much more present in areas that are affected by conflicts or difficulties than in Member States.
The memorandum examines the progress made by the Council (Dublin II, minimum reception conditions for asylum seekers), or still being developed (definition of refugee rights), examination procedures for demands for asylum, relations with third countries and developing countries. It is also insisting on the fact that "efforts made to curb illegal immigration should not make it impossible for people who need international protection to find safety". It is also worried about the asylum and immigration policy that has been adopted at the lowest common denominator. The UNHCR has therefore condemned the numerous exceptions that allows the decision-framework for minimum reception conditions for asylum seekers that "may result in continuing hardship for people seeing international protection in the European Union". The UNHCR is exporting Member States o respect and protect refugee rights such as those in the paper or those on immigration. The UNHCR is worried that these measures are too strict against illegal immigration and could prevent asylum candidates from submitting their requests. It is also insisting on the principle "non-repatriation", whereby asylum seekers have the right to submit a request without being directly sent back to the border.