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Safe avenues to access protection in Europe

1. Background and purpose of the Handbook

The Red Cross Red Crescent Movement has a longstanding commitment to working with and for migrants1 . National Societies provide specific support to all migrants irrespective of status, such as refugees, asylum-seekers and migrant workers.

They provide life-saving services, including to the most vulnerable, advocating for migrants’ needs and rights, and enhancing access to longer-term support. Drawing on the actions of National Societies in 192 countries, the International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) supports migrants at different stages of their journeys in order to reduce the vulnerability of migrants, including migrants in irregular situations, and to enhance their resilience. Working with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), National Societies also play a crucial role notably in Restoring Family Links (RFL), including in reuniting families when possible.2 The Platform for European Red Cross and Red Crescent Cooperation on Refugees,

Asylum Seekers and Migrants (PERCO) is an initiative of European National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. In 2012, PERCO adopted its first position2 which identified the need to establish safe avenues that allow migrants access protection within Europe. Since 2019 a working group dedicated to safe avenues to access protection in Europe was established within PERCO, composed by the Swiss Red Cross, the French Red Cross, the German Red Cross, the Finnish Red Cross and the Red Cross EU Office. The work of this working group resulted in the publication of this handbook.

Safe avenues include, but are not limited to, resettlement, private and community sponsorships and humanitarian visas. Family reunification is first and foremost an essential instrument to access the right to family life. However, reuniting family members of migrants allows families to use regular routes and avoid dangerous journeys to join their loved ones, therefore family reunification is also seen as a safe avenue. In this context, it is imperative that safe avenues are seen as complementary forms of seeking protection that in no way constrain the right of asylum seekers to ask for international protection irrespective of the way they arrived in Europe.

European States have a long tradition of welcoming refugees, supporting people affected by statelessness and forced displacement across the globe, and provide significant contributions to the adoption of contemporary international norms and standards that protect refugees and people seeking asylum. Despite this tradition, seeking asylum in Europe has become increasingly complicated and safe avenues to protection, namely resettlement and complementary pathways3 , as well as family reunification, remain underutilised by many European States4 .

Many European governments have committed to strengthening resettlement and complementary pathways in line with the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) as an expression of solidarity with refugees and host communities in non-European Union (EU) countries. Specifically, the multi-stakeholder Three-Year Strategy (2019-2021) on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways5 , aimed to expand places for resettlement and complementary pathways. More recently, Roadmap 20306 , sets out short and medium-term activities on how to develop further third-country solutions and plays a key role in turning commitment into action. In 2020, a recommendation on legal pathways to protection in the EU7 , issued by the European Commission as part of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum8, presented an opportunity to improve access to family reunification, and to realise objectives of the GCR.

Despite these, pledges by European states have not been ambitious enough to meet rising global protection and resettlement needs9 . A common approach to community and private sponsorship currently lacks consistent and robust arrangements for the sharing of responsibility between civil society and EU States, as well as a varying commitment to the principle of additionality. Similarly, there are no common regulatory frameworks or formal procedures for assessing humanitarian visas in the EU. Meanwhile, family reunification remains a lengthy and burdensome process, although the Council Directive 2003/86/EC - the applicable legal framework in the EU for the family reunification of third-country nationals - acknowledges the need for more favourable conditions for beneficiaries of international protection to exercise their right to family reunification.

Since 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted access to safe avenues, including both resettlement and complementary pathways, due to travel restrictions and ongoing operational constraints experienced by state and humanitarian actors, particularly in countries of asylum10 . In addition to existing legal and administrative obstacles, the COVID-19 pandemic has also seen further barriers to family reunification, with ongoing travel restrictions, embassy closures, as well as the expiration of visas among the key hurdles. The crisis in Afghanistan in 2021 resulted in additional and continuing delays to relocate evacuees and bring people to safety including through resettlement and family reunification. The resumption of spontaneous arrivals of migrants to Europe - as soon as COVID-19 restrictions were lifted- and the unprecedented number of displaced refugees from Ukraine have an impact on States’ willingness to commit to, and increase, safe avenues.

There have also been opportunities and welcomed innovation as a result of the pandemic and emerging humanitarian crises, with several European States adjusting their procedures and implementing creative responses to facilitate the swift entry of those in need of protection. Nevertheless, it’s yet to be seen whether these practices will be maintained in the future.

In this context, National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies across Europe play an important role in engaging with State authorities and civil society on issues of humanitarian concern, to ensure effective access to safe avenues in Europe. Safe avenues discussed in this report have been drawn from the experience and operations of National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Europe. Based on this, the handbook focuses on the following pathways: resettlement, community sponsorship and humanitarian visas as well as family reunification.

This handbook provides an overview of the current policy and legal context, an outline of relevant National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies activities, including examples of good practice, as well as reflections on the shared experience of National National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies supporting safe avenues to improve systems and raise awareness of the needs of people requiring protection.

The handbook concludes a set of recommendations for State authorities and other partners to ensure that safe avenues are both promoted and used appropriately. While further pathways to protection are available in Europe, for example, through education and work (e.g. through study visas), these safe avenues are not discussed in this handbook as they are currently not the focus of National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Europe. These pathways play an important role in providing safe avenues and we expect these to become increasingly relevant for European National Societies in the future. The European Commission has promoted these pathways in their proposals in the Pact on Migration and Asylum11. It is important to bear in mind that a multiplication of pathways should not lead to different statuses and the rights of migrants should not depend on the safe avenues they can access.