Refugees and Asylum Seekers

Primary tabs

Refugees with Temporary Residency Must Be Treated the Same as Citizens for the Purpose of Social Benefits, EU Court of Justice Rules

Mr. Ayubi’s refugee status qualified him for a three-year residency permit and enabled him to apply for state assistance. Under Austrian law, Mr. Ayubi’s temporary residence status restricted him to receiving the minimum amount of benefits, and the District Administrative Authority of Linz-Land granted him the minimum basic allowance and a temporary supplemental allowance.

An Afghan citizen (Mr. M.S.S.) presented an asylum application in Belgium after entering the EU through Greece. Pursuant to the Dublin Regulations (EU law that determines which country has responsibility for processing specific asylum petitions), Belgium transferred him back to Greece in order for Greece to process the asylum petition. Greece detained the applicant in degrading conditions and then released him into the country to await a decision on his application. During this time, Mr. M.S.S. was homeless, not permitted to work, and had no access to sanitary facilities or any resources.

The claimants in this joined action were asylum-seekers who had sought asylum after their initial entry to the UK. The defendant, Secretary of State for the Home Department, refused support under Section 55 of the Nationality, Immigration, and Asylum Act 2002 ("the Act") with regard to accommodation. Section 55 allowed refusal of support to asylum seekers who failed to make their claim as soon as reasonably practicable.

The applicant, Ms. N, a Ugandan national, entered the UK in March 1998. She was seriously ill and was diagnosed as HIV positive. She completed an asylum application within a few days, claiming she had been raped by the National Resistance Movement in Uganda because of her association with the Lord's Resistance Army. In August 1998, Ms. N developed Kaposi's sarcoma. In March 2001, a physician prepared an expert report which expressed that without regular antiretroviral treatment and monitoring, the applicant's life expectancy would be less than one year.

Country: 
Sri Lanka
Working Group(s) / Area(s) of Work: 
Women & ESCR
Corporate Accountability
Social Movements & Grassroots Groups
Economic Policy
OP-ICESCR
Country: 
India
Working Group(s) / Area(s) of Work: 
Women & ESCR
Social Movements & Grassroots Groups
OP-ICESCR

In September 2006, seven hooded and armed men kidnapped Rosmira Serrano Quintero's partner and killed her father, then told her to leave El Limoncito, where she lived, or else she and her daughters would also be killed, so she fled. In November 2006, she requested registration of herself and her daughters as displaced persons. Her application was denied by the Presidential Agency for Social Action and International Cooperation (Social Action). Ms.

ESCR-Net and Habitat International Coalition-Housing and Land Rights Network (HIC-HLRN) expressed their solidarity for displaced Zimbabweans who were evicted by their government.

Country: 
United Kingdom
Working Group(s) / Area(s) of Work: 
Women & ESCR
Corporate Accountability
Strategic Litigation
Economic Policy
Monitoring
OP-ICESCR