To Europe and Back Again: A Study of the Legality of Readmissions to Georgia

Sammanfattning: This graduate thesis examines if readmitting asylum seekers from EU member states to Georgia without first thoroughly assessing their claims would be illegal on the grounds that it would expose them to a real risk of ill-treatment contrary to Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The basis of asylum law is protection based on individual grounds. This graduate thesis therefore studies risks of ill-treatment that would be real enough to render readmissions of all or certain groups of asylum seekers to Georgia contrary to Article 3. The main body of the graduate thesis consists of a study of Georgia’s treatment of asylum seekers and a study and application of Article 3 to Georgian circumstances. The study of Georgia’s treatment of asylum seekers focuses on issues pertaining to the risk of indirect refoulement and the risk that readmitted asylum seekers would be subjected to inhuman or degrading living conditions when received in Georgia. The conclusion is drawn that readmissions of asylum seekers from EU member states to Georgia would not give rise to a risk of indirect refoulement for anyone. This is based on the assessment that Georgia has the capacity to seriously examine asylum applications and on the fact that Georgia does not presently detain or deport rejected asylum seekers. The study does not examine how Georgian decision makers assess particular grounds for protection. How Article 3 should be applied to inhuman or degrading living conditions is very uncertain. Legal scholarship is divided on how to interpret several aspects of the case law and it is clear that more case law is needed in order to decisively decide if living conditions in Georgia would make readmissions there illegal. However, it is concluded, with reservations, that the readmission of any asylum seeker to Georgia would probably be contrary to Article 3 on the grounds that the capacity of the Georgian reception system is severely insufficient to handle the amount of asylum seekers residing in Georgia.