Extinderea aplicării Convenției Europene a Drepturilor Omului în chestiuni privitoare la azil
Extending the Application of the European Convention on Human Rights Regarding Asylum

Protection ‘par ricochet’

Summary/Abstract: The so-called ‘refugee crisis’ caused multiple discussions regarding the European Union, its ability to react, legislative flaws, belated or insufficient institutional reactions, as well as the existence and nature of some specific obligations assumed by the member states or imposed on them. In this context, the status of EU members as states party to the European Convention on Human Rights deserves a careful consideration. The European Convention on Human Rights does not contain a separate article regarding asylum or the refugee status, a ‘right to asylum’. However, as early as 1989 the Strasbourg Court extended its competence over certain matters regarding asylum and asylum seekers beyond its forms of direct protection, which couldn’t have interfered with a state’s right to decide on returning an individual in a third state. The Court thus granted protection to aliens when states party decide to return by deportation, expulsion, or extradition an individual in a third state in which he risks grave violations of human rights as recognized by the Convention. This paper provides an overview of this particular type of protection, referred to in the doctrine as ‘protection par ricochet.’ We analyze some of the main decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, as well as the effects of these decisions on the states member of both the European Union and the ECHR.

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