EU law 'wholly unfair and unsuited' for dealing with migrant crisis

The Dublin Convention must be reviewed so the first country of arrival for migrants does not have to take responsibility for people fleeing warring countries in Africa. Instead, it should be an EU responsibility.

The comments were made by mayor Vincenzo Bianco of Catania, a city on the east coast of Sicily. Bianco said that the crisis was escalating and, just because migrants were arriving in Sicily, it was not just a Sicilian/Italian problem, but a Europe-wide issue.

The Dublin Convention aims to 'determine rapidly the member state responsible' for an asylum claim. However, Saimo Chahal QC (hon), partner and joint head of the public law team at Bindmans, said the law held 'a sting in its tail'.

'Usually, the responsible member state will be the state through which the asylum seeker first entered the EU. That's tough on islands like Lampedusa, Sicily, Italy, Malta, and Greece on whose shores thousands of migrants are washing up.'

The human rights lawyer continued: 'It's no wonder Italy and the other countries want a review of the situation. It is taking months, if not up to about two to three years for applications for asylum to be determined. Approximately 95 per cent of these applications will be unsuccessful according to staff here.'

Chahal travelled in June with a delegation of lawyers and doctors - including members of the Association of Muslim Lawyers and Society of Black Lawyers - to the Italian islands of Sicily and Lampedusa. The group sought out the legal, humanitarian, and political issues surrounding the migrant crisis with the hope of finding a solution.

The lawyers heard from Bianco three demands he'd make of the EU. Along with a review of the Dublin convention, the mayor of Catania wishes the EU create a humanitarian corridor in Syria and Eritrea, two of the places where the largest number of migrants are coming from.

'If migrants are entitled to be refugees,' he said, 'they should be granted refugee status instead of making the migrants cross over treacherous seas to Sicily and other countries.'

The third demand concerns providing emergency resources for the arrival of migrants.

'It should be recognised that Catania is itself in economic and financial crisis,' he continued. 'Unlike many countries in Europe where xenophobic reactions have been prominent, that has not been the case in Catania. However, we have a relatively poor population and we need help ourselves to fund the assistance we provide.'

European intervention

Bianco's comments were echoed by the director of the Mineo centre, a migrant holding ground, who Chahal reported as grateful that somebody from the West was taking an interest in the desperate situation of the migrants in Sicily. The Mineo centre now holds approximately 3,600 people from all nationalities: Eritrean, Nigerian, Congolese, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Syrian, to name but a few.

In Lampedusa, deputy mayor Damiano Sferlazzo said the island had a role to play, but that the island, just 20 square kilometres, had been abandoned.

'The reception centre at Lampedusa had grown exponentially and now houses about 800 migrants. It is key that there should be a union of all the different countries and they should share in its problem. This is an issue of human rights. It is vital that Europe intervenes.'

After returning from the trip, Chahal again stressed that the Dublin Convention was 'wholly unfair and wholly unsuited to present circumstances - it does need amending.'

The Bindmans partner said: 'Sicily, Lampedusa, and Greece are bearing the brunt of arrival of migrants. Clearly, [the convention] was devised at a time when this situation could not have been foreseen. [The responsibility] should be share jointly between EU countries.'

During their trip, the delegation interviewed around 40 migrants about where they came from and what it is they want to happen.

The group will now analyse the responses and draft a report with recommendations, which they hope to draw to the attention of MPs and government, to try and influence EU policy.

Chahal told SJ that she hopes the report will be published in the next few weeks, and said the delegation expects to travel to Calais next where the migrant crisis has recently seen approximately 150 migrants try to 'storm the Channel Tunnel'.

Laura Clenshaw is managing editor of Solicitors Journal
laura.clenshaw@solicitorsjournal.co.uk @L_Clenshaw