On 26 June, on the occasion of Spain's forthcoming assumption of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, 23 civil society organisations, including GCR, sent a letter to the Prime Minister of Spain, Mr. Pedro Sánchez.
In their letter, the organisations call on the Spanish Presidency, in full compliance with the fundamental right to asylum and in parallel to the negotiations on the Migration and Asylum Pact, to work towards the creation of a Common European Asylum System that:
- Ensures truly equitable responsibility-sharing, and promotes a permanent solidarity mechanism based on mandatory relocation quotas, in order to overcome the dysfunctionalities of the current Dublin system
- Ensure that asylum applications are treated individually and with the highest guarantees, in full compliance with the principle of non-refoulement, while establishing an effective, transparent and independent mechanism to monitor the respect of fundamental rights at the Union's external borders.
- Guarantee a dignified reception and a unanimous response by all Member States to situations of forced displacement such as the Ukrainian crisis, and to the increase of people in distress at the Mediterranean Sea.
- Promote a greater commitment to the expansion of legal and safe channels to seek protection without risking one's life in dangerous journeys, while reorienting European development cooperation policy towards the eradication of poverty and the fight against inequality.
Read the full letter here
