Belgium: Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons publishes report on non-refoulement and returns to Sudan
Upon a request of the Belgian Vice-Prime Minister, the Belgian Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons has published a report regarding the principle of non-refoulement and forced returns to Sudan. While the inquiry related to the specific case of ten Sudanese nationals who were forcibly returned from Belgium to Sudan and who claimed to have been subjected to torture and inhuman treatment upon return, the report sheds light on the application of the principle of non-refoulement more generally.
The report concludes that, in view of the available country of origin information regarding Sudan, it would be incorrect to affirm that the fact that a third country national has not applied for asylum could be an indication that there is no risk of him being subject to a violation of Article 3 ECHR upon return. On the contrary, the relevant authorities are under an obligation to carry out an investigation on the merits of the third country national’s concerns to be sent back in order to assess the risk of a violation of Article 3 ECHR. The authorities must assess this risk prior to any identification procedure carried out by the authorities of the country of origin. This assessment is subject to the principle of good administration and must be followed by a sufficiently motivated decision, which must be able to be appealed.
On 12 February 2018, the judge’s counsel chamber (chambre du Conseil) of the Brussels Court of First Instance relied upon this report to reject the extension of the detention of a Sudanese national. The Chamber reaffirmed that national authorities failed to carry out an individual assessment of the risk of a violation of Article 3 ECHR.
Based on an unofficial translation by the ELENA Weekly Legal Update: ▻http://www.asylumlawdatabase.eu/fr/content/belgium-brussels-court-first-instance-12-february-2018. We would like to thank Robin Bronlet, lawyer at the Progress Lawyers Network in Brussels, for bringing this topic to our attention.
▻https://mailchi.mp/ecre/elena-weekly-legal-update-23-february-2018#11