Safe country of origin and safe third countries : authentic concepts of safety?

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a growing discussion around the migration and asylum issues concerning the need for new rules for the asylum system in the European Union (EU). The Commission has presented different proposals to develop the fundamental documents in this area, namely the Asylum Procedure Regulation, which defines the safe country of origin (SCO) and the safe third country (STC) concepts and their application. However, the European Parliament and the Council have not yet reached an agreement on this issue. The SCO and STC concepts emerge from the assumption that certain countries can be considered as generally safe for people who live in their territory; however, they have different functions. While the SCO concept permits specific applications to be declared as unfounded, the STC concept should only have an impact on the admissibility of the asylum claim and not on the evaluation of the facts of the application. The aim of this thesis is to understand whether the evolution of the criteria and safeguards of both concepts, as established in the EU legislation, are enough to affirm that they are not too restrictive of the rights and guarantees of the asylum-seekers and refugees, and whether they allow for an effective use of the system.