23 Amendments of Jeanine HENNIS-PLASSCHAERT related to 2008/2235(INI)
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Indent 7 d (new)
Indent 7 d (new)
- having regard to the Commission proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down minimum standards for the reception of asylum seekers (Recast) (COM (2008)0815)
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas Directive 2003/9/EC applies to asylum seekers and refugees;
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Ab. whereas fundamental rights, such as the right to live in dignity, the protection of family life, access to health care and the right of appeal, must be guaranteed at all times;
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the Reception and Procedures Directives require Member States to provide asylum seekers with information in writing concerning their rights and the organisations providing assistance; and whereas it is essential - in view of the complexity of procedures and short deadlines, particularly in accelerated procedure cases - that asylum seekers and immigrants receive appropriate legal advice, have access to an interpreter when necessary and receive decisions concerning them in a language they are reasonably expected to understand,
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Regrets that the visits revealed that the existing directives weare still being poorly applied, or not at all, by thea number of Member States; calls on the Commission to take the necessary measures to ensure that the directives are transposed and complied with;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Stresses that the principles of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms should be applied at all times and regardless of the status of the third- country national involved; therefore cannot accept that a person is not treated accordingly for the sole reason that he or she is an irregular immigrant;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Deplores the considerable discretionary power left to the Member States by Directive 2003/9/EC, particularly as regards the level and form of material reception conditions and access to employment and healthcare, to the detriment of the harmonising of their legislationnumber of deficiencies regarding the level of reception conditions which mainly results from the fact that Directive 2003/9/EC currently allows Member States a wide margin of discretion concerning the establishment of reception conditions at national level; therefore welcomes the Commission proposal COM (2008)0815;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls for priority to be given to the reception of asylum seekers and immigrants in open reception centres; considers that asylum seekers are especially vulnerable and should in principle not be subject to measures which deprive them of their liberty;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Notes that the information about procedures is largely in writing and that the deadlines are very short, which poses a problem of understanding and constitutes an obstacle to asylum seekers effectively exercising their rights when they submit an application; calls for brochures explaining all the rights of asylum seekers and immigrants to be made available to them in several languages; calls on the Member States also to provide information by other means, including orally and televisually;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Regrets that access to free legal aid appears limited for asylum seekers and immigrants and amounts sometimes to no more than a list of lawyers’ names, resulting in people without sufficient funds being left without assistance;
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Notes that continuity of access to lawyers is made more difficult when detaineeasylum seekers are moved between different reception and/or detention centres;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Urges the Member States to provide free and effective public legal aid to all asylum seekers and immigrantsensure access to legal assistance and/or representation free of charge in cases where the asylum seeker cannot afford the costs involved;
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Regrets that in most of the detention centres visited, asylum seekers and migrants complained systematically about insufficient and inadequate medical care, the difficulties of consulting or communicating with doctors and the lack of specific care (in particular, for pregnant women and victims of torture) and medicines;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Calls onWelcomes the Commission to propose an amendment to Article 10 of Directive 2003/9/EC with a view to improvingal to tackle the obstacles to access to the labour market and to allow access to the employment marketafter a period of six months after an application for international protection has been lodged;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Recognises the considerable work done by various associations in providing assistance to asylum seekers and ‘irregular migrants’;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Calls on the Member States to ensure that these associations have access without legal or administrative obstacles to asylum seekers and irregular migrants, including those in detention centres;
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Regrets that thea number of Member States are making increasing use of detention; points out that detention must be a measure of last resort to be used when all other non- detention measures havstresses that a person should not be held in detention for the sole reason that he/she is seeking international protection; stresses that detention must be a measure of last resort for the shortest period possible only in cases where not had the desired result, must have a defined objective (e.g. expulsion) and must be limited in duration to the achievement of that objectivher less coercive measures cannot be applied and on the basis of an individual assessment of each case;
Amendment 84 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Points out that the right to contest a detention measure is laid down in Article 5 of the ECHR; calls for all third-country nationalasylum seekers placed in detention to be able to exercise that right;
Amendment 102 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
Paragraph 30
30. Calls for the detention of migrant minors and asylum seekenors to be prohibited in principle, and for the detention of minors with their parents to be exceptional and having the objective of ensuring that the best interests of the child are served;
Amendment 108 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
34. Calls on the Member States to guarantee that unaccompanied minors and families are housed in separate centres, including when they are in detention, so as to prevent mixing with other adults and ensure access toaccommodation even in detention, so as to guarantee adequate privacy and family life as provided for by Article 8 of the ECHR, as well as a protective environment for children;
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
Paragraph 37
37. Calls on the Commission to lay down the obligation to identify and search for aand the Member States to introduce a proactive duty to trace family members, in the European Uncluding for organisations souch as to ensure that unaccompanied minorhe Red Cross can join a family member where that is in their interesd Red Crescent;
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38
Paragraph 38
38. Is concerned at the phenomenon of unaccompanied minors disappearing; calls on the Commission and the Member States to put in place a harmonised system for gathering data and statistics pursuant to Article 4( 3)(a) of Regulation 862/2007/EC concerning the identification of, and provision of assistance to, unaccompanied minors in order to combat this phenomenon;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40
Paragraph 40