The Parliamentary Assembly expressed its concern about the current tendency of returning or transferring asylum seekers to third countries without clarity on the safety of the respective third country.
In adopting a resolution, based on the report by Stephanie Krisper (Austria, ALDE), PACE called on member States to assess, before returning or expelling an asylum seeker to a third country, whether that person would have access to an asylum procedure in the country concerned without being exposed to the risk of inhuman and degrading treatment or torture.
The Assembly also recommended that the Committee of Ministers develop new standards to enable member States to improve their assessment of the safety of third countries and update them regularly, taking into consideration the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, stressing that no absolute presumption of safety can be made, as the situation in a safe country may deteriorate.
