08/04/2025 Session
PACE today expressed concern about the growing divergence between international law and member states’ practice as regards collective expulsions of foreigners, recalling that such expulsions are “formally prohibited under Article 4 of Protocol No. 4 to the European Convention on Human Rights”.
The resolution adopted by the Assembly on the basis of a report by Pierre-Alain Fridez (Switzerland, SOC) emphasises the importance of “an individual examination of each person’s situation” to prevent any collective expulsions, recalling that, according to the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, all expulsion procedures must afford sufficient guarantees demonstrating “that the personal circumstances of each of those concerned have been genuinely taken into account”.
PACE is also concerned about the spread of the notion of the “legal fiction of non-entry”, whereby which persons are considered not to have entered European territory. It also considers that the drive to protect national security and ensure a total protection of borders must not justify the weakening of asylum and human rights standards (including the principle of non-refoulement and the absolute prohibition of torture).
In order to guarantee an individual assessment of the situation of each migrant and to put an end to collective expulsions, the adopted text recommends a series of measures to member states, including the adoption of national action plans for the implementation of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum –in line with the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and other relevant international human rights standards – and the provision of sufficient resources for their implementation.
PACE urged the member states condemned by the Court to promptly and fully execute the judgments concerning collective expulsions. Noting that the countries in which migrants first arrive are those that shoulder most of the responsibility for reception and integration policies, the Assembly also called for “a co-ordinated and coherent European approach to reception of migrants”, in law and in practice.
Finally, PACE welcomed the creation of a new Division on Migration and Refugees at the Council of Europe, established with a view to consolidating and intensifying the Organisation’s efforts to address urgent matters related to migration and asylum.