In partnership with The AIRE Centre, the Dutch Refugee Council, and the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE), ENS has filed a third-party intervention before the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Suji v. Greece, focusing on Contracting States’ obligations to protect the right to family reunification of stateless refugees under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The applicant is a stateless refugee who obtained refugee status in Greece, but has been unable to benefit from family reunification with his wife and children (living in Bangladesh), because the authorities would not examine his application due to a lack of documents.
The submission analyses Contracting States’ obligations under Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life), Article 13 (right to an effective remedy) and Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) ECHR, and also invites the Court to consider key provisions of the 1951 Refugee Convention, the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and EU law. It notes that the right to family reunification applies to all refugees regardless of their nationality status, and that the particular circumstances and vulnerability of stateless refugees and their families must be taken into consideration. The submission also notes that there must not be any requirements in law or in practice that stateless people are unable to fulfil by virtue of their statelessness. Stateless refugees must have a real possibility of enjoying family reunification, in the same manner as other refugees.
The third-party submission also provides general background information on the protection of stateless people in Greece, and an overview of the impact of statelessness in Bangladesh.
