The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom Rules on Return of Asylum Seekers to Responsible Country under Dublin II (February 19, 2014) [1]
On February 19, 2014, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (the Court) allowed four asylum seekers’ appeals in R (on the application of EM (Eritrea)) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department. The Court remitted the cases of the appellants, three Eritreans and one Iranian national who alleged that they faced a risk of suffering inhuman and degrading treatment if they were returned to Italy, for reconsideration in the first-instance court on the facts. Italy, the state in which the appellants first claimed asylum, is considered the “responsible” state for processing the applicants’ asylum claims under the relevant EU law, Council Regulation 343/2003 (commonly known as Dublin II [3]). According to the press release [4], the Court held [5] that the Home Secretary and the Court of Appeal had been “wrong to consider that only a systemic breach by the receiving country of its human rights obligations would justify not returning an asylum seeker to that country.”