Objective

This conference will provide asylum law practitioners with practical insight into the current challenges and changes affecting applications for asylum in the EU under the subsidiary protection regime. It will also analyse the recent case law of the European courts on asylum law.

Key topics

The concept of subsidiary protection
The scope and limits of Art. 15(c) Qualification Directive (‘indiscriminate violence in situations of international or internal armed conflict’)
Changes to subsidiary protection in the reformed Common European Asylum System
Update on developments in European asylum legislation
Recent case law of the CJEU and ECtHR in the area of asylum law and their incorporation into national law

Background
It has long been recognised that individuals who do not qualify for refugee status may still be in a situation such that they should not be sent back to their country of origin. With the second-phase CEAS legislation, several aspects of this well-recognised concept of ‘subsidiary protection’ have been changed, not least making the protection afforded to such individuals equivalent to that which is guaranteed to those with asylum status under Directive 2013/32/EU on common procedures for granting and withdrawing international protection (from 2015 onwards).

Moreover, considerable uncertainty persists as to the scope of application of Article 15 of the Qualification Directive, in particular Article 15(c), in the light of jurisprudence from both national and European courts which often cannot be readily aligned with each other (e.g. Elgafaji, Sufi and Elmi, and HM and others).

There have also been some important recent rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union on other aspects related to subsidiary protection, most recently in H.N. v Minister for Justice (C-604/12), which may have far-reaching effects, particularly with respect to the interplay between asylum law and fundamental rights, especially the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU (e.g. Art. 41 and 47 CFR).

Who should attend?
Staff of government bodies and national asylum authorities, asylum lawyers and judges in national courts, NGOs

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