On 22 May 2024, the Pact on Asylum and Migration, a complex legal reform that includes 10 different legal acts, was published on the Official Journal of the European Union.
This step comes after the Council of the European Union, on 14 May 2024, adopted the different legal acts that forms the important reform of the Pact on Asylum and Migration, which should provide the EU with a long-awaited change of the rules governing the movement of third country nationals from outside to inside the EU.
With this post, we would like to focus in particular on Regulation (EU) 2024/1351 on Asylum and Migration Management, which, as well known, is one of the cornerstones of the Pact on Asylum and Migration. This Regulation will gradually replace the current Dublin Regulation with the hope to contribute to the reform of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) through the establishment of a common framework for migration management. The Regulation accordingly, once fully entered into force, will provide the criteria to determine which EU Member State is responsible for an application for international protection, the common procedural standards of the application for international protection as well as the conditions for the activation of the solidarity mechanism.
In light of the legal and political complexity of the Regulation, we would like to mention that the European Council for Refugees and Exiles (ECRE), a NGO umbrella organisation that gathers several asylum and migration association operating at national level, recently published an in-depth comment of the Regulation on Asylum and Migration Management. While, of course, we are aware that this opinion is only one of the many available on the web as well as it does not represent the opinion of the partners of the Project, the analysis provided by ECRE is extremely precious for researchers and experts working in the field, but also for everyone working on issues related to families on the move.
Particularly interesting is the ECRE comment to Art. 23 of the Regulation, which covers the situation of unaccompained minors filing an application for international protection. In their recommendations, ECRE demands that “A common standard for the best interest assessment based on UNHCR and Committee on the Rights of the Child recommendations should be developed” and that “MS [Member States] should ensure that proper funding is provided for the system of representatives for unaccompanied minors to function, that ensure enforcement is in line with rights of children and decisions are taken according to the best interests of the child”. (p. 30 of the document)
The Regulation, together with the others 9 legal acts of the Pact on Asylum and Migration, has been adopted by the Council and signed by the Council and the Parliament on 14 May 2024, and was published on 22 May 2024 on the EU Official Journal. It will be applicable only after 24 months from its effective publication on the EU Official Journal, which is 11 June 2024.
If you know or you are aware of similar comments to the legislative instruments of the Pact on Asylum and Migration as well as similar subjects that you think deserves our attention, please be in touch with us via the website or at famimove@unimib.it and we will be happy to consider them for publication and further dissemination on our website.
Image credit: European Commission, visit of President Von der Leyen to the Lampedusa migrant camp
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