France: Four countries removed from 'safe countries' list

Image by Cité nationale de l'histoire de l'immigration via Flickr

Source: Tetu

By Habi Bangré

Translation: F Young

Here’s a little bit of good news for asylum seekers from Armenia, Madagascar, Turkey and Mali: their applications will no longer be considered negatively a priori, because these countries are no longer considered without risk.

Homosexuals from Armenia, Madagascar, Turkey and Mali will now have a (slightly) better chance of getting asylum. Indeed, on July 23, the Council of State removed these countries from the list of “safe countries” - countries that France sees as respecting the principles of freedom, democracy and the rule of law, as well as human rights and fundamental freedoms.

That’s a relief for the nationals of these four countries because “the inclusion of a country on the list speeds up the consideration of asylum requests of the persons involved (15 days instead of 118 on average) and authorizes the prefects to return them to their country, even before the national court of asylum (“Cour nationale du droit d’asile”) has issued a decision on any appeal,” according to a release denouncing the practice issued by Amnesty International France, GISTI, la Cimade, ACAT-France and the Association des avocats ELENA France, which, with other associations, are behind the decision of the Council of State.

The "safe" countries are not for LGBT’s

But, it is the whole concept of "safe" countries that these associations want to challenge. "For us, each application must be examined on a case-by-case basis,” said Matilda Knight, member of Amnesty International France’s LGBT commission. “The ‘safe country’ concept is totally contrary to international conventions governing the right of asylum.” Especially when the list is found to be discriminatory, opaque and politically motivated.

Furthermore, countries that are still on the list ... are not really "safe", particularly for LGBT people. Benin, Ghana, Senegal and Tanzania criminalize homosexuality, while in Mauritius sodomy is forbidden, but not gay or lesbian romantic relationships (see our article). In other countries on the list (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cape Verde, Croatia, India, Macedonia, Mongolia, Serbia, Ukraine), caution remains the rule despite the absence of repressive laws . . .

Can we expect that states with a homophobic law will be removed from the list? At OFPRA, the agency that examines the situation of asylum seekers, we are told that there are no plans for such a project.

Droit d’asile: quatre pays retirés des «pays sûrs»

Read more »