Access to protection at airports in Europe

In most Member States of the EU, the number of persons crossing the state border at airports far exceeds those at land or sea borders. Yet access of asylum seekers to the territory and the asylum procedure is often unregulated or ad hoc at such entry points. Although international and European laws contain rules and guidelines to ensure that refugees can have access to Europe, practices often do not reflect the protection envisaged in law.

The project «Monitoring asylum seekers’ access to territory and procedure at European airports — exchange of experience and best practices» sought to monitor how refugees’ access to Europe through 6 airports (Amsterdam, Budapest, Madrid, Prague, Vienna and Warsaw) in ensured in law and in practice.

6 NGOs working to assist refugees took part in the project: the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Asylkoordination Austria, the Dutch Council for Refugees (Netherlands), the Organisation for Aid to Refugees (OPU, Czech Republic), Association for Legal Intervention (Poland) and the Spanish Commission for Refugees (CEAR, Spain).

Documents: http://www.helsinki.hu/eng/indexm.html