Information Note on the Arbitrariness regarding Access to the Asylum Procedure in Bulgaria
The Legal Clinic for Refugees and Immigrant publishes the Information Note prepared by Dr.Valeria Ilareva on case-law in Bulgaria in 2011 that documented some typical unlawful administrative practices in hindering access to the asylum system. Download the Information Note
International cooperation between LCRI members
Themba Lewis, who is currently in Egypt and member of the editorial team of the Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter invited Valeria Ilareva to comment on the recently published UNHCR report “No Place to Stay: A Review of the Implementation of UNHCR’s Urban Refugee Policy in Bulgaria“. Below we reproduce the article from the June 2011 issue of the Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter:
Bulgaria and UNHCR’s urban refugee policy
Valeria Ilareva reviews UNHCR’s newly published report on its urban refugee policy as implemented in Sofia, Bulgaria. Dr. Ilareva is the coordinator of the Legal Clinic for Refugees and Immigrants, where she is also a practicing lawyer. For more on detention in Bulgaria, see the Global Detention Project’s Bulgaria profile.
In May 2011 the UNHCR Policy Development and Evaluation Service published ‘No Place to Stay: A Review of the Implementation of UNHCR’s Urban Refugee Policy in Bulgaria’, evaluating the implementation of UNHCR’s urban refugee policy in Sofia. The Bulgarian capital was selected along with Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Nairobi (Kenya) and San Jose (Costa Rica) for the evaluation. Bulgaria was chosen in order to assess the extent to which the policy is relevant to a European Union Member State (albeit one of the poorest) where there is a UNHCR Branch Office and Representation, but where the national government has major engagement with the issue of urban refugees. The review was done by an independent consultant and a member of UNHCR’s Policy Development and Evaluation Service.
The report outlines the situation facing urban refugees in Bulgaria. Of particular note are the chapters on ‘Access to shelter and services’ and ‘Livelihoods and self reliance’, as they highlight the camp-style conditions currently in place in urban Sofia. According to legal regulation in Bulgaria, every asylum seeker who chooses to live outside the camp-like premises of the State Agency for Refugees is deprived of the right to receive the monthly financial assistance of US$45. At the same time, access to the labour market is not allowed until one year has passed since the registration of the asylum application. Under these circumstances asylum seekers are knowingly exposed to the risk of exploitation and abuse in the informal economy.
The report mentions the planned inauguration of a 300-capacity transit centre for asylum seekers in Pastrogor, the main entry point for asylum seekers on the Turkish-Bulgarian border. This is currently scheduled to take place on 30th May, 2011. This news is met with concern by human rights practitioners in Bulgaria. Unlike the ‘reception centre’ in Sofia, the ‘transit centre’ is closed, disallowing freedom of movement. It is designed to house people undergoing the Dublin procedure on determining the responsible Member State and for fast-track processing of manifestly unfounded applications of ‘illegally staying foreigners’ (Article 47, Paragraph 2.1. of the Law on Asylum and Refugees). The ‘transit centre’ is where asylum seekers who have crossed the Turkish-Bulgarian border irregularly will be detained. Until the opening of the ‘transit centre’ in Pastrogor, the head of the State Agency for Refugees had designated the Busmantsi immigration detention centre in Sofia as a ‘transit centre’.
Over the last few years access to the asylum procedure in Bulgaria has been hindered by the discretional registration of asylum seekers who have crossed the border irregularly (Ilareva 2007). In a recent case of an Iraqi family who had undergone persecution and ill-treatment, the European Court of Human Rights intervened under Rule 39 in order to stop the family’s removal, which amounted to refoulement. The State Agency for Refugees had refused to register the asylum applications of the single mother and her two children and — after keeping them detained in the Busmantsi centre for nearly five months — the migration authorities attempted to deport the family as illegal immigrants. On 10th May, 2011, the family was boarded for deportation and was stopped just before leaving Bulgarian territory following the urgent action of the Legal Clinic for Refugees and Immigrants (LCRI), the Strasbourg court, and the UNHCR representation in Sofia. Rarely is it possible, however, to achieve such a successful outcome, which in this particular case was due to the fact that LCRI had worked on the case for several months and had sufficient evidence to prove that the family belonged to a vulnerable group and had insistently applied for asylum. In Pastrogor, access to legal aid will hardly be possible in view of the distance from the capital, where NGOs providing legal aid are based, without resources for the journey.
The lack of lawyers in the Pastrogor centre is coupled with another issue of concern. As the UNHCR report highlights, legal assistance in Bulgaria is usually sought only after an asylum seeker is served a decision rejecting protection, while access to the asylum and interviewing procedures receive less attention.
Against this background, the report’s recommendation that ‘UNHCR should undertake a risk assessment with respect to the notion of resettling refugees in Bulgaria’ (para.141) is well-founded at present.
LCRI appeals for the immediate release of Arevik
Arevik, a 22-year-old Armenian national pregnant in her third month, is currently coercively “accommodated” in the Special Centre for Temporary Accommodation of Foreigners in Busmantsi, Sofia. Arevik has been detained in order to execute an order for her deportation. The order has been issued after the girl overstayed her tourist visa, on which she arrived in Bulgaria to be with her boyfriend David. David is formally a national of Armenia. However, for the duration of 18 years by now, since he was six-years old, David has been living with his family in Bulgaria. Despite his deep integration in the Bulgarian society, David has no identity documents and, accordingly, his status is one of an “illegal” immigrant. Arevik remained together with David in Bulgaria since without documents he cannot travel outside the country. They cannot get married for the same reason.
At the date of Arevik’s coercive “accommodation” in the Special Centre for Temporary Accommodation of Foreigners in Busmantsi on 9 March 2010, her deportation order was formally in accordance with the technical provisions of the Law on Foreigners in the Republic of Bulgaria. However, in detention Arevik found out that she was pregnant. On the basis of this new circumstance she applied for humanitarian protection in Bulgaria to preserve the integrity of her family with David (pursuant to Arevik’s deportation order, she is banned from entering Bulgaria for a period of five years). The State Agency for Refugees registered Arevik’s application for humanitarian protection on 30 March 2010. From this moment on, ex lege the actions for her deportation should be suspended. In spite of this, the authorities continue to keep Arevik in detention with a view to deport her. Arevik’s detention since 30 March 2010 is unlawful. The legal arguments substantiating the unlawfulness of her detention as presented by the lawyer Valeria Ilareva can be found here
Two broadcastings on the Bulgarian National Radio covered the case of Arevik and David [in Bulgarian language]: on 24 March 2010 and 15 April 2010.
You can read more on the case and on the civil society support for Arevik and David here [in Bulgarian language].
The Strasbourg Court found violations by Bulgarian authorities in another expulsion case
Judgment by the European Court of Human Rights of 11 February 2010 on the case of Raza v. Bulgaria
There is an increasing number of cases, in which Bulgaria is condemned by the European Court of Human Rights for abuse of power in expulsion of foreigners from the country. This tendency, which was pointed out by LCRI and its partners at a press conference on 01 February 2010, is confirmed by the most recent judgment in Strasbourg.
The Pakistani citizen Ali Raza and the Bulgarian citizen Zoya Raza are married in Bulgaria since the year 2000. On 6 December 2005 the National Security Service at the Ministry of the Interior issued an order for expulsion against Mr. Raza and a ten-years ban to enter Bulgaria on the ground that he constituted a serious threat to the national security. The order did not state the factual reasons for reaching that conclusion. Mr. Raza was not served a copy of the order and he came to know about it only after his detention for expulsion. From 30 December 2005 till 15 July 2008 Mr. Raza was ‘coercively accommodated’, firstly in the ‘Home for temporary accommodation of adults’ in the ‘Drujba’ neighbourhood in Sofia , and after the inauguration of the new center in the Busmanci neighbourhood, he was moved to the ‘Special home for temporary accommodation of foreigners’. Although the Sofia City Court issued a decision for Mr. Raza’s release in view of the protracted length of his detention, the Supreme Administrative Court repealed the decision of the Sofia court and ruled that the orders for ‘coercive accommodation’ were not subject to judicial control.
After the ‘coercive accommodation’ of Mr. Raza was substituted by an order for his daily appearance for signature at the local police station, in August 2008 he submitted an application before the State Agency for National Security to review his expulsion. However his application was rejected on the ground that the expulsion order was already in force. His removal from Bulgaria is only temporarily halted for technical reasons – lack of documents for his re-entry into Pakistan.
At the beginning of 2008 the family turned for legal aid to the Legal Clinic for Refugees and Immigrants (LCRI), which – after exhausting all domestic remedies – helped them to make an application before the Strasbourg court (Application №31465 of 28 June 2008).
In its Judgment of 11 February 2010 the European Court of Human Rights unanimously held:
1) If Mr. Raza is expelled, this will constitute a violation of the right to respect for family life, enshrined in Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)
The Court reaches the conclusion that – as in the case of C.G. v. Bulgaria – Mr. Raza “did not enjoy the minimum degree of protection against arbitrariness on the part of the authorities” in issuing his expulsion order and the resulting interference with his family life was not in accordance with a “law” satisfying the requirements of the Convention (para.55 of the judgment);
2) There has been a violation of the right to an effective remedy, enshrined in Article 13 of the ECHR;
3) In relation to the ‘coercive accommodation’ of Mr. Raza:
- there has been a violation of the right to liberty under Article 5, Para. 1 of the ECHR
The Court reiterates that the immigration detention under Art.5, Para 1 „f” of the ECHR is lawful only if “action is being taken with a view to deportation”. In the case of Mr. Raza’s detention that continued for over two years and a half, the ‘coercive accommodation’ had ceased to serve its lawful purpose, because the Bulgarian authorities failed to conduct the expulsion proceedings with due diligence – their actions were limited to sending three letters to the Consular section of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asking for assistance. Furthermore, the successful implementation of the more lenient measure of periodic appearance at the local police station after Mr. Raza’s release “shows that the authorities had at their disposal measures other than the applicant’s protracted detention to secure the enforcement of the order for his expulsion.” (paras.72-75 of the judgment)
- there has been a violation of the right to speedy judicial review of the detention according to Article 5, Para.4 of the ECHR.
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Congratulations to the attorney Diana Daskalova and the students from LCRI on their successful work on the case and Thank You to all human rights defenders who – also with their actions prior to this judgment – enhance the establishment of the rule of law in Bulgaria!
The Bousmantsi Triangle
Sofia Echo, Petar Kostadinov, The Bousmantsi Triangle, 26.02.2010
Said Kadzoev has been released from the Busmantsi detention centre
On 03 December 2009 Said Kadzoev was released from immigration detention. He was detained since 21 October 2006 for the purpose of his deportation. The release of Mr. Kadzoev is the result of the application of the obligatory interpretation of EC law given by the Court of the European Union in relation to his case.
Said Kadzoev and immigrants in the EU mark a victory with today’s judgment in Luxembourg
30.11.2009 – The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has issued its judgment in Case C-357/09 PPU on the first reference for a preliminary ruling on the EC Return Directive . The reference was made by a Bulgarian court in the national case reviewing Said Kadzoev’s prolonged detention. An asylum-seeker who is a torture survivor, Said Kadzoev has been in immigration detention in Bulgaria since October 2006 to date. The Legal Clinic for Refugees and Immigrants has been providing free legal aid to Said since January 2007 and has given publicity to the human rights violations in his case, including unlimited solitary confinement in the Busmanci detention centre.
The interpretation of the EC Return Directive proposed by the Bulgarian judge would have led to an extension of the 18-months limited period of detention pending removal and introduction of exceptions to the time limit. Fortunately, the European Court of Justice affirmed the right to liberty of third country nationals in the European Union and ruled a judgment which application shall lead to Said Kadzoev’s immediate release from detention.
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The Sofia Echo, European Court orders Bousmantsi detainee’s release, 02 December 2009
European Voluntary Service
The Legal Clinic for Refugees and Immigrants is pleased to announce that it has become an accredited organization and is thus entitled to apply for projects under Action 2 – European Voluntary Service of the Youth in Action programme. Our accredidation reference number is 2009-BG-16.
For the short period since being awarded our accreditation we have received a big number of potential volunteers’ queries from all over Europe. We are glad and encouraged to see that our mission and ideas provoke such an enthusiastic response.
We are preparing a couple of projects to be submitted by the 1st of February 2010 deadline. This means that our first EVS volunteers could arrive in Sofia, Bulgaria, on the 1st of May 2010.
The LCRI team is looking forward to working with them.
