Brussels, 01/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission wants to run its first pilot projects on refugee protection outside the EU, one in Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus, and the other in Tanzania. According to a communication adopted on Thursday, regional protection programmes should enable the countries in question to establish a proper process for examining asylum requests, improve reception conditions, train people who will be in contact with refugees and migrants, inform the local population, carry out projects, where possible, that also benefit the local population, register asylum seekers and migrants, and establish a re-settlement programme along with the HCR to allow a small number of people to be settled in the EU. The aim is clearly to ensure asylum seekers are processed outside the EU before they reach EU borders. The European Commission wants Member States to sent in concrete proposals in this connection. Projects will be implemented in cooperation with the UN High Commission for Refugees (HCR), and the countries involved will be funded from existing programmes (AENEAS and TACIS). The Commission points out that EUR 2 million has been earmarked in aid for such projects in Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus, but gives no budget for Tanzania. Future projects might cover Northern Africa, the Horn of Africa and Afghanistan.
A year ago, there was controversy at the Scheveningen Justice and Home Affairs Council over the issue of developing an asylum policy outside the EU's borders, creating refugee centres in other countries. Since then, Member States have reached agreement on the idea of projects outside the EU, but say they want to help these countries develop their legislation and reception capacity rather than building refugee camps.