Author: rsaegean.org | 12 September 2019
The systematic rejections of family reunification requests from Greece by Germany and their detrimental impact upon the right to family life and the best interest of the child.
n the past two years, there has been a dramatic increase in the numbers of refusals of ‘take charge’ requests for family reunifications sent by the Greek Dublin Unit under the Dublin Regulation (EU) No.604/2013 (‘Dublin III Regulation’, hereinafter Dublin Regulation) to their German counterparts.
These persistent refusals by the German asylum authorities affect first and foremost the family unity of individuals that have already suffered from conflict, war and persecution and mostly impact upon the best interest and wellbeing of refugee children that have often been separated from their families for prolonged periods.
While the Dublin Regulation – the “cornerstone” of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) – has been repeatedly and not unjustly criticized as an unfair and ineffective mechanism for the allocation of responsibility for the examination of asylum applications submitted in different European member states, its family reunification procedure remains until today one of the scarce safe legal routes to fulfill the rights and core principles of family unity, the best interest of the child and the right to family life.