Brussels, 26 March 2009 - Caritas Europa and its Christian partner organisations have issued a paper on the European Commission’s proposal for amendments to the Dublin Regulation. They welcome the document, as they identify important elements of improvement and a serious attempt to address the many protection gaps of the current system.

The Dublin Regulation aims at ensuring that an application for asylum submitted in an EU country by a third-country national or stateless person is handled by one, and only one, Member State.

Since its adoption in 2003, the regulation has been criticised for, among other things, not processing asylum applications efficiently nor supporting the notion of a Common European Asylum System. Critics have also pointed out that the current regulation penalises asylum seekers through a frequent use of detention and a tendency to separate families.

Although the Christian group still takes the position that the Dublin System harbours serious shortcomings, it sees the following elements as important improvements:

-          A new legal right to information for asylum seekers;