SOPS_border_en_jointEASO_August16_190624redacted.pdf
Dieses Dokument ist Teil der Anfrage „Standard Operating Procedures for the implementation of the Border asylum procedures“
Standard Operating Procedures for the implementation of the Border asylum procedures in the context of the EU Turkey Statement 18/03/2016. The following instructions are addressed to all actors involved in the asylum procedure within the context of the joint project aiming at the implementation of the EU-Turkey Statement of 18 March 2016, i.e. Police staff at the disposal of the Asylum Service, Asylum Service staff, EASO experts and EASO interim staff. The present procedure refers to asylum applicants who entered in the Greek islands from Turkey, from 20-3-2016 and onwards. Version of 19June 2019 (redacted) Into force as of 1 July 2019
Table of Contents 1. Definitions ................................................................................................................................. 3 2. Actors involved .......................................................................................................................... 7 3. Registration of the international protection application by RIS/ Hellenic Police ...................... 10 3.1 Registration ........................................................................................................................... 10 3.2 Initial vulnerability assessment by RIS ................................................................................... 11 4. Lodging of the application for international protection ................................................................ 12 4.1 Lodging process...................................................................................................................... 12 4.2 Vulnerability .......................................................................................................................... 13 4.3 Family Unity and Dublin cases................................................................................................ 14 4.4 Scheduling the interview........................................................................................................ 15 4.5 File management ................................................................................................................... 16 5. Examination processes ................................................................................................................. 18 5.1 Types of processes ................................................................................................................. 18 5.2 Cases of detained applicants as prioritised by AS ................................................................... 18 5.3 The Personal Interview .......................................................................................................... 18 5.3.1 Conducting the interview ..................................................................................................... 18 5.3.2 Legal representation ............................................................................................................. 20 5.3.3 Nationality related considerations ....................................................................................... 21 5.3.4 Children ................................................................................................................................. 21 5.3.5Linked cases ........................................................................................................................... 22 5.3.6Documentation ...................................................................................................................... 22 5.3.7 Scope of the interview .......................................................................................................... 23 5.3.8 Concluding the interview ...................................................................................................... 24 5.4 Exemption from the border procedure .................................................................................. 25 5.4.1. Vulnerability ......................................................................................................................... 25 5.4.2 Best interests assessment ..................................................................................................... 27 5.4.3 Family Unity .......................................................................................................................... 28 5.4.4 Dublin .................................................................................................................................... 29 5.5 Drafting an opinion ................................................................................................................ 30 5.5.1 Scope of the opinion ............................................................................................................. 30 5.5.2 Exclusion and security considerations .................................................................................. 31 5.5.3 Finalising the opinion ............................................................................................................ 32 6. Issuing a decision ..................................................................................................................... 33 7. Official Notification of the Decision ......................................................................................... 34 8. Submission of an Appeal ......................................................................................................... 35 9. APPENDIXES: ........................................................................................................................... 36 APPENDIX 1. REFERRAL FORM ......................................................................................................... 37 2
APPENDIX 2. FLOWCHART: VULNERABILITY ..................................................................................... 39 APPENDIX 3.Operation and use of the Query system handled by Helpdesk ..................................... 40 1. Definitions For the purposes of the Standard Operating Procedures: Best Interests Assessment (BIA): An assessment conducted by a designated official, in order to determine what immediate actions are in an individual child’s best interests. The assessment consists of evaluating and balancing all necessary elements related to the individual circumstances of the child and requires holistic approach and relevant professional expertise. In the context of border procedures, BIA is conducted by EASO Vulnerability Experts in order to determine whether it is in the best interests of the separated child to be exempted from the border procedure independently of his/her caretaker and/or representative (if another applicant is appointed as such e.g. relative) or to be exempted accompanied by the caretaker and/or representative. The BIA is also conducted in the cases of married children above 15 years of age by EASO, only when the married child is accompanied only by the adult spouse and no other adult relatives. It is also conducted exceptionally when there is such a need for children accompanied by their parent(s). Caretaker/representative: The temporary guardian (i.e. the Public Prosecutor) appoints an adult to take care for the child (education, supervision and living arrangements) and/or represent the child (the latter having no or limited legal capacity in legal proceedings) and by initiating the procedure for the appointment of a permanent guardian. Child: Child and minor are synonyms and refer to any person below the age of 18. Both terms are in use in the border procedure. Counsellor and/or lawyer: According to art. 34 (w) of L. 4375/2016 “Counsellor of the applicant” is the jurist, medical doctor, psychologist or social worker who assists the applicant during the examination of his/her application. "Accordingly the applicant can have as counsellors, except of his attorney (a lawyer having the capacity to represent persons, according to the Greek legislation, before the Greek authorities, Courts etc.), a lawyer (in the general sense of the term – a person with a degree of a Law School), a social worker, a psychologist and a medical doctor. 3
Dependant: This refers to the minor children of the applicant; it also refers to a dependent adult in case the applicant is responsible for him/her, whether by law or by practice in Greece, such as in case of limited legal capacity or incapacity. Detention: the confinement of a person within a particular place, resulting in depriving the person’s freedom (art. 34(m) L. 4375/2016). Dublin cases (family reunification): cases to which the grounds of Article 8 to Article 11 of the Dublin III Regulation (Regulation (EU) No 604/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an application for international protection lodged in one of the Member States by a third-country national or a stateless person) apply. This includes, in particular: unaccompanied children with family members or other relatives legally present in a Dublin III Regulation Member State; applicants who have family members who are beneficiaries of international protection or applicants for international protection in another Dublin III Regulation Member State. Eurodac: Regulation (EU) No 603/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on the establishment of 'Eurodac' for the comparison of fingerprints for the effective application of Regulation (EU) No 604/2013 establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an application for international protection lodged in one of the Member States by a third-country national or a stateless person and on requests for the comparison with Eurodac data by Member States' law enforcement authorities and Europol for law enforcement purposes, and amending Regulation (EU) No 1077/2011 establishing a European Agency for the operational management of large-scale IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice. Family member: insofar as the family already existed before the entry in the country, this includes: a. the spouse or unmarried partner in a long-term stable relationship, where duly proven; b. the minor, unmarried and dependent children, regardless of whether they were born in or out of wedlock or they are adopted; c. the adult children of the applicant who suffer from a mental or physical disability and are unable to submit an application separately; 4
d. the parents of unmarried children, regardless of whether the children were born in or out of wedlock or they are adopted; Family unity: Cases where the applicant has a family member present in Greece who is a beneficiary or an applicant for international protection or otherwise entitled to other legal residence status. EASO Helpdesk: supports the implementation of the SOPs by the EASO teams and aims at Quality Assurance, in line with the Asylum Service, for the implementation of the EU-TR Statement. High Recognition Rate (HRR) nationalities: nationalities with a recognition rate of 25% and higher based on quarterly EU-wide average Eurostat data. Low Recognition Rate (LRR) nationalities: nationalities with recognition rate below 25% based on quarterly EU-wide average Eurostat data. Linked cases: Cases linked either due to family ties (but not nuclear families), either to other reasons (ex. beneficiaries of residence permits, subsequent applications). Separated child: a child falling under the definition of an unaccompanied child, who is, however, accompanied and in the care of another adult. This adult is appointed by the Public Prosecutor as his/her caretaker and/or representative. Temporary guardian: the competent Public Prosecutor who ensures the best interests of the separated or the unaccompanied child. Unaccompanied child: a person below the age of 18, who arrives in Greece unaccompanied by an adult who exercises parental care on him/her according to Greek Legislation and for as long as such parental care has not been assigned by law and exercised in practice, or a child who is left unaccompanied after he/she has entered Greece. Vulnerable groups: The following groups shall be considered as vulnerable according to Law 4375/2016, Article 14(8): 1 a) Unaccompanied children b) Persons with disabilities or suffering from an incurable or serious illness 2 c) The elderly 1 Including separated children. 2 Person of the age of 65 and above. 5
3 d) Women in pregnancy or having recently given birth e) Single parents with children f) Victims of torture, rape or other serious forms of psychological, physical or sexual violence or exploitation, persons with a post-traumatic stress disorder, in particular survivors and relatives of victims of ship-wrecks g) Victims of trafficking in human beings. Individuals belonging to vulnerable groups shall be exempted from the relevant (accelerated) border procedure described in Article 60(4). 3 A woman who has given birth within the last 3 months. 6
2. Actors involved Staff coordinated by Asylum Service (AS): 1. Coordinator of the Asylum Service: the person designated as general coordinator on behalf of the Asylum Service. 2. Registration Coordinator: the person designated as coordinator of the AS and other staff (police officers, EASO interims) who are conducting the lodging of the applications, Eurodac fingerprinting, uploading documents notifying second instance decisions and archiving. 3. Case worker: person in charge of issuing eligibility and admissibility decisions upon the opinion of EASO experts and EASO interim staff and of providing any necessary clarifications to them. Staff seconded from the Hellenic Police to the Asylum Service: 1. Registration officer: person conducting the lodging of the asylum application, including the fingerprinting officer. 2. ‘Uploading’ officer: person in charge of uploading scanned documents and potentially receiving submitted documents from applicants after the lodging of the appeal. These nd persons may also be tasked with the notification of the 2 instance decisions. 3. Notification officer: person in charge of conducting the notification of decisions. 4. Archive officer: the person in charge of the archive. Staff seconded from EASO to the Asylum Service: 1. EASO Registration Assistant: person supporting the Asylum Service with lodging of international protection applications. 2. EASO flow-manager and info provider: person providing information on the asylum procedure, answering applicants’ individual questions on the outcome of the procedure at different stages, accompanying the applicants to competent employee. 3. EASO Administrative Assistant: person supporting the Asylum Service with administrative procedures. Staff coordinated by EASO: 7
1. EASO Field Coordinator and/or EASO Field Support Officer: person coordinating EASO operations in the hotspots, who represents EASO with external stakeholders and is responsible for activity planning, all communication with the Asylum Service, supervision of EASO interim staff, experts and interpreters. 2. EASO Operations Assistant: person providing support to EASO Field Coordinator to facilitate daily operations in the hotspots in relation to experts’ management, data collection, tracking daily operations and coordination of interpreters, as needed. 3. EASO Administrative Assistant: person supporting EASO Field Coordinator with performing administrative and logistic tasks in relation to EASO’s resources, assets, workspace, etc. 4. EASO ICT Assistant: person providing ICT support to EASO staff (and Asylum Service staff, if needed). EASO Experts and interim caseworkers: 1. EASO team leader: person in charge of coordinating a group of EASO case officer/interim caseworkers and, in certain cases, a group of vulnerability experts; providing guidance to the interviewer/interim caseworkers; ensuring cases are distributed timely and accounted for, supervising the quality of interviews and opinions. 2. EASO case officer: person conducting the interviews, identifying potential vulnerabilities, identifying family unity and Dublin cases and drafting opinions concerning the application for international protection. They consult with the vulnerability experts in order to gain from their expertise and to contribute to a coherent approach. 3. EASO Vulnerability expert: person with an advisory role for cases of vulnerability. In cases where additional support is needed, the case officer asks the vulnerability expert for support which can be both during interviews or at the opinions drafting stage. There is however no automatic obligation for the case officer to stop the interview to consult with him/her every time a vulnerability indicator arises. The vulnerability expert is in constant consultation with AS on all vulnerability related issues. He/she can be the contact point for other stakeholders regarding issues of vulnerability. They perform BIA, when required. EASO case officer. 8
4. EASO Interpreters’ coordinator: person in charge of coordinating a group of EASO Interpreters. 5. EASO Interpreter: person providing interpretation services to the team of EASO Experts and AS staff. 6. EASO Helpdesk Expert: person providing support to all EASO experts and Field Coordinators on procedural issues by email and telephone, coordinating the query system, participating in drafting query responses and coordinating the Quality Feedback process. NOTE: The roles of actors involved may differ according to the needs of each RAO/AU/EASO operations. 9
3. Registration of the international protection application by RIS/ Hellenic Police 3.1 Registration For each third country citizen or stateless person who wishes to apply for international protection, RIS or Hellenic Police should register his/her application (‘Voulisi’). For each person, even minor children or babies, a separate registration (‘Voulisi’) should be made. The registration of the application for international protection should include: a) a photograph of the applicant in order to facilitate the identification of each applicant, b) the numbers of the registration of the members of his/her nuclear family. It is noted that the number of the registration is necessary for the procedure of the lodging of the applications to take place. This number is different than the case number. ATTENTION: Before the lodging starts, the Registration Coordinator must also find out if any applicant is an unaccompanied child according to legislation, i.e. a child who is either not accompanied by a relative exercising parental care/custody or a child who is de facto accompanied by a relative, who is not the child’s guardian (separated child). The Registration Coordinator ensures that the child’s case is appropriately linked to the case of the accompanying relative and refers the child to the Reception and Identification Service (RIS). RIS confirms the family link between the child and the accompanying relative and initiates the procedure with the Public Prosecutor, who will appoint a caretaker/representative for the child. After the caretaker/representative has been appointed, the lodging of the asylum application can take place. ATTENTION: Before the lodging starts, the Registration Coordinator should receive from AS a separate list of detained applicants for prioritised examination. 10