Newsletter N .7 | May 2021
Dear Project Partners, dear Fellows,
In this issue of the FRICoRe Newsletter, we will present:
- The Transnational Training Workshop on Migration and Asylum
- The Transnational Training Workshop on Health and Fundamental Rights
1. The Transnational Training Workshop on Migration and Asylum.
The workshop “Effective Justice, International Protection and Fundamental Rights in Asylum and Migration” took place in online mode on 4-5 March 2021, organized by the Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ) represented in the FRICoRe Project by Professor Thibaut Fleury-Graff.
The objective was to examine the effectiveness of judicial protection in the field of immigration and asylum. In particular, by focusing on the protection of the fundamental rights of migrants, asylum seekers and beneficiaries of international protection, the workshop aimed to enable participants to analyse how the protection of migrants and foreigners can be ensured in the light of Article 47 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the EU general principles.
During the first day, two keynote speeches were hosted. The first one was delivered by Prof. Bostjan Zalar, President of the European Chapter of the International Association of Refugee and Migration Judges (IARMJ-Europe) and Ad-hoc Judge at the ECtHR, who addressed the “Judicial Dialogue between CJEU and ECtHR in Asylum Related Cases in the Period 2009-2021: A View of Judge of the Member State”. The second speech was instead given by Ms. Dominique Kimmerlin, President of the French National Court for Asylum, focused on “The right to an effective remedy: a view from the French National Court for Asylum (CNDA)”.
In line with the usual structure, the workshop took place in two training sessions, each one composed of a thematic roundtable and an interactive session held in three separate working groups. The focus of the first session was on effective protection in the event of detention, removal, expulsion or Dublin transfer of migrants, while the second session focused more specifically on procedural and substantive aspects of the right to asylum. The success of the training event would not have been possible without the active involvement of its speakers and audience.
In particular, acknowledgments go to Michael Hoppe (Vice-President of the Administrative Court in Karlsruhe - Germany), Theodora Gazi (lawyer at Danish Refugee Council - Greece), Aniel Pahladsingh (Coordinating EU lawyer at Research Department - Council of State in The Hague - the Netherlands) for their contribution to the first roundtable chaired by Professor Fabienne Jault-Seseke from the Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines; as well as to the speakers of the second roundtable, chaired by Dr. Viola Bex-Reimert from the University of Groningen, namely Mark Byrne (International Protection, Appeals Tribunal - Ireland), Cristina Correale (Tribunal of Naples - Italy), Katelijne Declerck (Immediate Past President of the International Association of Asylum and Migration Judges, from Belgium).
In addition to the training sessions, a further roundtable was intended to delve into the impact of the multiple crises faced by national legal systems upon migration law. More specifically, the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic were explored by Mark Byrne (International Protection, Appeals Tribunal - Ireland) and Cristina Correale (Tribunal of Naples - Italy); whilst Florence Malvasio (Vice-President of the National Court for Asylum - France) dedicated her second presentation to the management of the migration phenomenon in times of threats to national security. The roundtable and the subsequent discussion were chaired by Dr. Madalina Moraru, Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Judicial Cooperation of the European University Institute, and Judicial Studies Centre, Masaryk University.
Pictures from a plenary session and a working group, respectively
2. The Transnational Training Workshop on Health and Fundamental Rights.
The workshop “Judicial Protection of Health as a Fundamental Right” took place on 27-28 May 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the workshop took place exclusively in the virtual mode.
The workshop focused on effective protection of the right to health in the light of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, with particular attention to Articles 47 and 52 CFREU. Based on the ongoing judicial dialogue in this field, the workshop was aimed to investigate the several challenges faced by national and European courts in balancing the right to health, both as an individual's right and as a collective interest, with other fundamental rights, such as freedom of movement (of people, service, capital and goods), data protection, refugees' rights, access to justice. Special attention was also devoted to the multiple balances imposed by the pandemic emergency in 2020-2021.
Consistently with the usual organization, the workshop took place in two training sessions lasting over two days. Each of the sessions hosted a roundtable and an interactive session aimed at discussing hypothetical cases submitted to the participants before the workshop.
Before the event all the participants registered were provided with dedicated training materials, including the dedicated Casebook Judicial Protection of Health as a Fundamental Right as well as descriptive sheets of hypothetical cases to be discussed in working groups during the interactive sessions.
On the first day the FRICoRe Project had the honour of hosting Mr Justice Raffaele Sabato from the European Court of Human Rights, who provided a wide overview around the perspective of the ECtHR concerning the protection of persons with disabilities. The speech was followed by a discussion from the audience moderated by Prof. Fabrizio Cafaggi, Italian Council of State.
The workshop continued with the first roundtable scheduled, dedicated to the topic “The horizontal dimension of health protection: the rights to health in consumer protection, data protection, asylum, non-discrimination”. The roundtable was chaired by Paola Iamiceli and composed of the following speakers: Angela Ward, Legal Secretary of Advocate General Evgeni Tanchev at the Court of Justice of the European Union; Lottie Lane, University of Groningen, the Netherlands; Cristina Correale, Tribunal of Naples, Italy; Patricia Costa, District Civil Court of Leiria, as well as trainer at Centro de Estudos Judiciários, Portugal. The panellists’ presentations, primarily focused on the perspective of the national and EU case law, paved the way to a Q&A session with the audience.
The second day was dedicated to the role of general principles of EU law in balancing the right to health with other fundamental rights.
The morning session began with the second keynote speech scheduled, delivered by Mr Justice Peter Huber from the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany. Such speech addressed the implementation of the rule of law in Germany in facing the pandemic challenge and was also followed by questions and comments from the audience introduced and moderated by Elena Buoso from the University of Padova.
The workshop continued with the roundtable, titled “Balancing the right to health with other Fundamental Rights: the role of general principles of EU law” and chaired by Brigit Toebes from the University of Groningen, saw the participation of the following panellists: Karoline Bülow, Administrative Court of Berlin, Germany; Markus Thoma, Supreme Administrative Court, Austria; Maria Jackowska, Supreme Administrative Court, Poland; Giancarlo Montedoro, Council of State, Italy. The panellists shared their knowledge and professional experience also over the following discussing session with the trainees.
In addition to the training roundtables specifically combined with interactive sessions, a third roundtable was meant to explore further the challenges posed by the health crisis due to the Covid-19 outbreak. The session titled “The fight against the Covid-19: how effective has judicial protection been?” addressed this question starting from the first-hand experience of senior judges introduced and chaired by judge Franco Frattini, Adjunct President of the Italian Council of State. The panel was composed of Holger Böhmann, Federal Administrative Tribunal, Germany, Yves Doutriaux, Council of State, France and Matej Accetto, Constitutional Court of Slovenia, whose presentations ranged from the effectiveness of judicial protection in the event of a close succession of the rules to be enforced to the limits of the jurisdiction when adjudicating under conflicting scientific findings, just to name some of the issues covered.
