Nævnet stadfæstede i februar 2025 Udlændingestyrelsens afgørelse om overførsel til Spanien i medfør af udlændingelovens § 48 a, stk. 1, 1. pkt., jf. § 29 a, stk. 1, jf. Dublinforordningen, vedrørende en mand, der var i besiddelse af et udløbet visum til Spanien. Sagen blev behandlet på formandskompetence. DRC Dansk Flygtningehjælp henviste som begrundelse for, at klagerens sag skulle behandles i Danmark, blandt andet til de generelle forhold for asylansøgere i Spanien, samt risikoen for hjemløshed. Efter en gennemgang af sagen, udtalte Flygtningenævnet blandt andet: ” Det fremgår af udlændingelovens § 48 a, stk. 1, 1. pkt., at påberåber en udlænding sig at være omfattet af § 7, træffer Udlændingestyrelsen snarest muligt afgørelse om afvisning eller overførsel efter reglerne i kapitel 5 a. Det fremgår videre af kapitel 5 a, herunder § 29 a, stk. 1, at en udlænding kan afvises eller overføres til en anden medlemsstat efter reglerne i Dublinforordningen. I den foreliggende sag har nævnet lagt til grund, at klageren har fået udstedt et visum til Spanien, der udløb [i sommeren] 2024 og dermed mindre end seks måneder før, at klageren indgav sin ansøgning om asyl i Danmark, og at han ikke har forladt medlemsstaternes område efter udløbet af sit visum. Flygtningenævnet finder på denne baggrund, at Spanien er forpligtet til at modtage klageren, jf. forordningens artikel 12, stk. 4, og at Spanien dermed er ansvarlig for at behandle klagerens ansøgning om international beskyttelse. Det bemærkes herved, at Spanien [i efteråret] 2024 har accepteret at modtage klageren i medfør af pågældende bestemmelse. DRC Dansk Flygtningehjælp har gjort gældende, at klagerens asylsag skal realitetsbehandles i Danmark under henvisning til de generelle forhold for asylansøgere i Spanien, herunder den høje risiko for at klageren skal leve som hjemløs i Spanien uden adgang til asylproceduren. DRC Dansk Flygtningehjælp har på den baggrund gjort gældende, at klagerens asylsag skal realitetsbehandles i Danmark i medfør af Dublin-forordningens artikel 17, stk. 1, jf. EU’s charter om grundlæggende rettigheder artiklerne 1 og 18. Det fremgår af de foreliggende baggrundsoplysninger, herunder blandt andet AIDA’s Country Report: Spain, opdateret senest i maj 2024, indeholder i pkt. G. under Asylum Procedure nærmere oplysninger om den information, som tilgår asylansøgere i Spanien, herunder at informationen bl.a. er tilgængelig på arabisk. Herudover beskrives det, at relevante NGO’er er til stede i bl.a. lufthavnen i Barcelona. Desuden indeholder rapporten i pkt. A under Reception Conditions en nærmere beskrivelse af modtageforholdene. Det hedder bl.a. i rapporten: ”Short overview of the reception system …In principle, applicants for international protection are granted reception conditions and thus referred to a shelter as soon as they apply for asylum. Nevertheless, there have been major shortcomings in the reception system in recent years, rendering the access to reception difficult in practice (e.g. waiting periods reaching up to 1 month) and resulting in homelessness in certain cases.…The State Secretary for Migration of the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration directly manages four reception facilities for asylum seekers, which are collective centres. In addition, 20 NGOs run reception centres for asylum seekers, through funds granted by the State Secretary for Migration. Many of these facilities are apartments. It has to be noted that in 2022 there has also been a change for what concerns funding of reception facilities managed by NGOs, with the provision of direct funding to certain organisations. To address the situation at the external borders, the European Commission continued to provide support to frontline Member States by offering financial assistance and operational responses in coordination with EU agencies, international organisations and other relevant stakeholders. Assistance was provided on different matters (i.e. managing arrivals, setting up adequate reception, ensuring efficient asylum and return procedures, improving border management, protecting unaccompanied minors and other groups with vulnerabilities, etc.), and Spain was one of the EU countries targeted by such initiative. Support to Spain focused on the reform of the national reception system to increase its capacity in facing increases in arrivals. EU funding has also supported the reform of the Spanish Asylum Office, which included recruiting additional case officers. In addition, in August 2022 the European Commission awarded EUR 171 million for projects to support the reception, asylum and return systems in Cyprus, Spain, Greece, Italy and Poland, through a competitive call under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF). Support for Spain would reinforce the capacity of the reception system in Ceuta and on the Canary Islands. As highlighted by the EUAA in its 2023 annual report, Spain allocated additional funds to improve reception conditions. Concretely, EUR 50 million were allocated for the improvement of reception conditions on the Canary Islands, focusing on the care of unaccompanied minors, education, healthcare and supporting countries of origin. In addition, EUR 10 million were allocated to reinforce the asylum and reception systems in Ceuta, financed 90% from EU funds. The arrival of displaced persons also prompted the activation of an extraordinary budget of EUR 1.2 billion to strengthen the Spanish reception system overall. Despite that, the European Commission considered that Spain failed to transpose the recast Reception Conditions Directive in a correct manner, and in January 2023 sent a letter of formal notice. … A. Access and form of reception conditions…1.1. Rights to reception in different procedures…Shortcomings and delays regarding access to the reception system have been reported during 2023. In his 2022 Annual Report, the Spanish Ombudsperson continued to highlight the inadequacy of the asylum reception system to assure the necessary places to all asylum seekers, also due to the delays in the appointments to express the will to apply for asylum and to the duration of the asylum procedure, which greatly exceed the duration legally foreseen. Cases of asylum seekers living on the streets because of the saturation of the reception system and the delays in the formalization of the asylum applications have been reported in 2023 and at the beginning of 2024. In January 2023, the EU Commission started an infringement procedure against Spain for not having transposed completely and correctly the EU norms on reception conditions, giving to Spain a 2 months deadline to address the deficiencies of its system. No further developments on the case were registered at the time of writing of this report. In a report published in February 2022, the organisation CEAR highlights the challenges experienced by the Spanish asylum reception system and proposes a set of suggestions on how to improve it. A report published by the organisation Sira describes the serious inadequacy of reception facilities in Melilla and the Canary Islands in terms of guaranteeing basic rights, such as food, water, hygiene, etc., and how this negatively impact on the psychological well-being of migrants and refugees. Asylum seekers returned to Spain under the Dublin Regulation continue to face difficulties in accessing reception since 2018. Following judgments of the TSJ of Madrid,602 the DGIAH issued instructions in January 2019 to ensure that asylum seekers returned under the Dublin Regulation are guaranteed access to reception (see Dublin: Situation of Dublin Returnees). The Reception Handbook was amended accordingly. In August 2022 the Government announced the plan to open a Migrant Temporary Stay Centre (CETI) in Algeciras, which has been opposed by the city’s major, political parties, residents, etc.604 According to the NGO Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos de Andalucía (APDHA), the main objection from the city’s major is just due to the preoccupation that it would increase the presence of migrants in the city; notably, he did not oppose the Government’s plan to build an additional CIE in the city. The organisation Algeciras Acoge instead highlighted that it would be more useful to invest in infrastructures necessary for all the population. In a letter sent to the Municipality, the Vice-Director General of Emergencies and Migration Centres of the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration explained that the assistance to asylum seekers is an obligation for the Government, and that one of the objectives of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan is the expansion of the national network for the reception of migrants and asylum seekers. To that purpose, the Vice-Director General of Emergencies and Migration Centres asked the Municipality of Algeciras to look for another space to build such centre. In January 2023, the Government announced the construction of a reception centre for asylum seekers in Vitoria (País Vasco), with a budget of EUR 14.1 million and a capacity of 350 places. The plan has encountered the opposition of the city major, as the decision appears to have been taken unilaterally by the central Government. By February 2023, however, an agreement was found.” På baggrund bl.a. af det anførte baggrundsmateriale lægger Flygtningenævnet til grund, at modtageforholdene i Spanien er problematiske, men også at der fra de spanske myndigheders side løbende er taget tiltag for at forbedre situationen. Flygtningenævnet bemærker generelt, at Spanien har tiltrådt Flygtningekonventionen, EMRK og EU-charteret, hvorefter der som udgangspunkt gælder en formodning for - henset til Dublinforordningens princip om gensidig tillid mellem medlemsstaterne - at modtageforholdene og asylproceduren i medlemsstaterne er i overensstemmelse med kravene i de pågældende konventioner. Flygtningenævnet finder herefter uanset de foreliggende baggrundsoplysninger om mangler i forbindelse med indkvartering mv. af asylansøgere i Spanien, at de generelle forhold og levevilkår for asylansøgere i Spanien ikke er af en sådan karakter, at Danmark er afskåret fra at overføre klageren til Spanien, jf. forordningens artikel 3, stk. 2, 2. led. For så vidt angår det anførte om, at klageren har det psykisk skidt og har sin [familiemedlem] i Danmark, finder Flygtningenævnet, at Dublinforordningens artikel 16, stk. 1, ikke finder anvendelse i nærværende sag, da betingelserne herfor ikke er opfyldt. Der er herved lagt vægt på, at klageren ikke har dokumenteret et afhængighedsforhold mellem klageren og hans [familiemedlem]. Flygtningenævnet finder således, at der ikke er grundlag for at tilsidesætte Udlændingestyrelsens vurdering af, at der ikke foreligger sådanne særlige hensyn, herunder af humanitær karakter - i sammenhæng med de ovenfor nævnte problematiske forhold i Spanien - at asylansøgningen bør behandles i Danmark, jf. forordningens artikel 17. På den baggrund skal Flygtningenævnet meddele, at nævnet efter en gennemgang af sagen ikke finder grundlag for at omgøre Udlændingestyrelsens afgørelse, jf. udlændingelovens § 48 a, stk. 1, 1. pkt., jf. § 29 a, stk. 1, jf. Dublinforordningen”. Dub-Span/2025/2/Saba
