Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in a case supported by the Greek Council for Refugees.

The Judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of H.T. v. Germany and Greece, a case supported before the Court by the Greek Council for Refugees, was published yesterday, 15-10-2024.

The case concerns the return of a Syrian asylum seeker from Germany to Greece on 2018 within the framework of the so called “administrative arrangement agreement”.

This "agreement" was negotiated between the German and Greek authorities in 2018 and aimed to establish a fast-track procedure for the return from Germany to Greece of asylum seekers who had initially lodged an asylum claim in Greece, bypassing the guarantees of EU and international human rights law.      

The Court, referring to its established case-law according to which it is the obligation of the Statecarrying out the return, to examine the conditions to be encountered by the person transferred to the other State, condemned Germany for breach of the European Convention on Human Rights, finding that the return of the applicant from Germany to Greece was contrary to Article 3 of the ECHR. 

Among other things, the Court emphasised that the German authorities:

• received no guarantee as to the treatment of the applicant after his return to Greece,
• failed to consider the risk that the applicant might not have access to the asylum procedure or might be exposed to detention or reception conditions contrary to Article 3 ECHR, even though the German authorities knew or ought to have known of the inadequacies of the Greek asylum system; and
• carried out the return in an extremely rapid manner without the applicant having access to a lawyer prior to return.  

Furthermore, the Court found a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights by Greecedue to the detention for 2 ½ months of the applicant in the Leros Police Station in totally inappropriate conditions and the ineffective judicial review by the competent Greek Court of the detention conditions. 

At a time when more and more European States request the introduction of derogations and exceptions to the EU Law and international human rights law, in order to achieve the swift return of asylum seekers and refugees to countries of first entry or their transfer to third countries, it is also with this Judgment that the Court underlines the responsibility of the Contracting States to safeguard the fundamental rights of asylum seekers and refugees.