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Danish Refugee Council Brussels

DRC Brussels

The objective of DRC Brussels is to represent and support DRC's overall mission and strategies vis-a-vis relevant EU institutions in Brussels; to strengthen the partnerships DRC has with European Institutions, in particular DG ECHO, DG NEAR, DG INTPA, DG HOME and EEAS; to actively participate and contribute to influencing policy processes relevant to conflict, forced displacement, protection and humanitarian response with a focus on protection, protracted crisis and mixed migration.

Lobbying Activity

Response to Emergency measures for Latvia, Lithuania and Poland

3 Feb 2022

The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) finds that the European Commission’s proposal for a European Council decision on provisional emergency measures for the benefit of Latvia, Lithuania and Poland should be cancelled as it is an inappropriate and disproportional response to the situation at the EU-Belarus border. DRC is genuinely concerned about the humanitarian situation at the external border because people are being denied access to fundamental rights and protection. Core humanitarian principles and standards are not being respected as the people in the border area have not been provided humanitarian assistance. Instead of adequately addressing the fundamental rights violations that are taking place in the border area, the proposal focusses on derogations from the Asylum Procedures Directive, which result in limiting the right to asylum and lowering of the safeguards during the asylum procedure, including increased risk of detention The situation in the border area is a humanitarian emergency that the Member States should address with a calm and proportional response and with full respect for the asylum acquis and fundamental rights. The proposed measures should not set precedence for the EU’s reaction to conflicts with neighboring countries. DRC strongly opposes the severe limitations to the access to seek asylum and the legal safeguards during the asylum border procedure, including the living conditions. The fact that people are being used in what is described as a hybrid attack, should not result in derogation of the law, which limits their fundamental rights. Asylum seekers should get immediate access to asylum procedures with adequate safeguards, including free high-quality legal aid and effective remedies. DRC is also concerned about the risk of lengthy detention of persons, who are seeking protection without having committed a crime. Experience from similar situations, where asylum seekers are accommodated in remote areas or detention, show that the lack of access to legal aid and well-trained translators can result in lack of identification of vulnerable asylum seekers as well as fundamental rights violations, access to fair and efficient asylum procedures and effective remedies. Return of rejected asylum seekers must always be dignified. Rejected asylum seekers should have access to impartial and non-directive return counselling as well as reintegration support. DRC is engaged in the Protecting Rights at Border (PRAB) initiative that documents pushbacks at the EU’s borders, including the border between the EU and Belarus. In 2021, PRAB has documented how more than 12,000 persons experienced illegal pushbacks at the EU’s external and internal border, such as violations of the right to seek asylum and physical abuse. Belarus does not have a well-functioning asylum system, and asylum seekers being pushed back to Belarus can thus result in violation of the principle of non-refoulement. Such disregard of international obligations by other countries, does not exempt the EU and its affected Member States from its responsibility. Refugee protection is a global responsibility that the EU risks undermining through derogations from the right to seek asylum and the principle of non-refoulement. By enforcing European and international law, the situation at the EU’s external borders can be managed within existing legal frameworks in a humane and dignified manner that ensures asylum seekers’ access to fair and efficient asylum procedures including dignified and adequate reception conditions. In line with European values, Member States should be encouraged to support each other and show solidarity; not only through financial and operational support but also in the form of responsibility-sharing measures such as relocation.
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Meeting with Helena Dalli (Commissioner)

26 Oct 2021 · Ms Helena Dalli holds a meeting with Ms Birte Hald and Ms Alba Cauchi, Representative of the Danish Refugee Council to the European Union

Response to EU Action Plan against migrant smuggling (2021-2025)

29 Mar 2021

The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and the Mixed Migration Centre (MMC) have the following initial feedback to the narrative and priorities identified in the Roadmap for the Action Plan against migrant smuggling 2021-2025. A nuanced and balanced narrative and policy approach to smugglers is needed to adequately account for the different profiles and activities of people engaged in the migrant smuggling sector. • The extent to which smuggling networks resemble highly hierarchical organised crime networks is often exaggerated. Data and analysis suggest that more often, smuggling networks consist of a large number of loosely connected individuals. However, indications are that the harder the fight against migrant smuggling, the more this leads to fewer and more organised criminal actors. • The lines between human trafficking and migrant smuggling can be blurry, but too often human trafficking and migrant smuggling are conflated, and the portraying of smuggling as trafficking is used to justify a tough and criminalised approach. • The criminalisation of migrant smuggling has increasingly been extended to criminalisation of migrants themselves and increasingly even to those who assist migrants. The criminalisation of solidarity with migrants should be stopped. • The role of smugglers in encouraging irregular migration is overestimated in public and policy discourse. 4Mi data indicates that smugglers play only a very limited role in influencing peoples’ decision to migrate. However, during the journeys, refugees and migrants increasingly become dependent on smugglers for information. Protection implications of anti-smuggling measures and approaches must be carefully and regularly assessed, understood and addressed. • While migrant smuggling contributes to the undermining of the rule of law and often puts refugees and migrants at risk, and must be addressed, it is important to recognize that in some contexts the use of smugglers is the only possibility for refugees and migrants to reach safety. • Although not a solution for reducing irregular migration, a stronger focus on enhancing regular and safe pathways, accompanied by effective awareness raising on legal options, must be prioritised. • The protection, dignity and safety of refugees and migrants must be at the core of anti-smuggling measures, including in the cooperation with third countries, where focus should be on expanding protection capacities, enhancing access to assistance and services for refugees and migrants as well as supporting possibilities for inclusion/integration. • Unintended consequences of anti-smuggling measures and hardening of borders in terms of increased vulnerabilities of those on the move have been widely documented (e.g. Clingendael 2018, Multilateral damage) over the past years while the negative impact on the smuggling business lacks empirical evidence. • Continuous data collection and research should be conducted by appropriate agencies, incl. civil society organisations, to map protection gaps, to assess the protection implications of anti-smuggling measures, and to gather reliable and updated information on smugglers’ modus operandi following the “whole of route approach”. The role of International and National NGOs should be recognized and strengthened. • In the EU Action Plan against migrant smuggling (2015-2020) the role of international and national NGOs was largely absent. While cooperation with International Organisations are key, equally important is the cooperation with non-governmental agencies, at both international and national level. • NGOs are in daily contact with the asylum seekers, refugees and migrants, providing information on legal migration possibilities, protection risks, potential asylum and inclusion/integration possibilities in the country of transit, and should be considered key actors in the new action plan. • Concretely, relevant NGOs should be invited to participate in the dedicated “cooperation platforms“.
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Meeting with Katherine Power (Cabinet of Commissioner Mairead Mcguinness) and OXFAM INTERNATIONAL EU ADVOCACY OFFICE and

18 Feb 2021 · Briefing on the current humanitarian situation in Myanmar

Meeting with Ylva Johansson (Commissioner) and

12 Mar 2020 · Discussion on the current situation in Greece

Meeting with Paraskevi Michou (Director-General European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations)

22 Jan 2020 · Introductory meeting and exchange on ECHO/DRC collaboration

Meeting with Christos Stylianides (Commissioner) and

27 Feb 2017 · Humanitarian Aid priorities for 2017

Meeting with Giulio Di Blasi (Cabinet of High Representative / Vice-President Federica Mogherini) and Amnesty International Limited and

25 Nov 2016 · Niger Compact

Meeting with Monique Pariat (Director-General European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations)

22 Jun 2016 · Courtesy visit