Ad-Hoc Query on Return of Palestinians to Gaza and/or the West Bank Requested by NO EMN NCP on 4 th May 2012 Compilation produced on 4 th June 2012 Responses received from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom plus Norway (21 in Total) Disclaimer: The following responses have been provided primarily for the purpose of information exchange among EMN NCPs in the framework of the EMN. The contributing EMN NCPs have provided, to the best of their knowledge, information that is up-to-date, objective and reliable. Note, however, that the information provided does 1. Background Information The National Police Immigration Service in Norway is interested in learning how other Member States work when returning Palestinians to the West Bank and the Gaza strip. We currently reviewing our own procedures and would like to compare these with those of other Member States. We would very much appreciate your responses by 31 st May 2012. 1 of 6
Questions: 1. Does your country forcibly return Palestinians to Gaza and/or the West Bank? If yes; 2. Which routings are used? 3. What is the level of cooperation and coordination with authorities in transit countries such as Jordan and Egypt? Please describe. 4. Do you escort the returnees to the border of Gaza-Egypt (Rafah)? If yes, how? 5. Do you escort the returnees to the border of the West Bank-Jordan (Allenby Bridge)? If yes, how? If you do not escort them to Gaza-Egypt/West Bank-Jordan; 6. How far do you escort them? 7. How do you obtain information concerning the arrival of the returnee at the final destination? 2. Responses Query Wider Dissemination? Austria No This EMN NCP has provided a response to the requesting EMN NCP. However, they have requested that it is not disseminated further. Belgium Yes Belgium did not carry out any forced returns to Gaza or the West Bank in 2010 or 2011. Bulgaria Yes 1.Until now there have been no cases of forcible return of Palestinians in Gaza / West Bank 2.Not applicable 2 of 6
3.Not applicable 4.Not applicable 5.Not applicable 6. Palestinians with Lebanese and Syrian passports are escorted to Syria and Lebanon, after coordination and cooperation with diplomatic missions of respective countries in the Republic of Bulgaria. 7. The Migration Directorate officials escorting the foreigner convey the person / persons at the competent Syrian / Lebanese authorities. Cyprus Yes 1. Until today, there were no forced returns of Palestinians to Gaza and/or the West Bank. Such deportations only take place upon the request of the persons concerned for voluntary return. They are however called deportations because the Republic carries all the expenses. 2. In the case of the above mentioned voluntary returns, the routing used is the one requested by the person concerned (via Egypt, Jordan). 3. For these cases there was no problem with the authorities of transit countries, because the persons were not escorted and therefore it was not considered to be a deportation. 4.No 5.No 6.Not applicable 7.Not applicable Estonia Yes There have not been any cases where Estonia has forcibly returned Palestinians to Gaza and/or the West Bank. France Yes 1. Yes. Forced returns of Palestinians are carried out by French authorities towards Gaza and the West Bank but such a scenario rarely happens. Most of the time, the majority of Palestinians are rather readmitted to one of the Schengen Member States in the framework of bilateral agreements (38 out of the 53 Palestinians readmitted in 2011, the other 15 having chosen spontaneous or assisted return). 2-4 - 5. Readmission shall be made either via Egypt and then, by road transportation under the aegis of the French Police's International Technical Co-operation Delegation (Service de cooperation technique internationale de police = SCTIP) towards Gaza Strip, or via Jordan and then, by road transportation under the aegis of SCTIP towards the West Bank. 3 of 6
3. Contacts made locally by the French authorities with authorities in transit countries are not subject to monitoring by the central administration. Germany Yes Germany does not carry out forced returns to Gaza and the West Bank Greece Yes Greece does not carry out forced returns to Gaza and the West Bank Hungary Yes The Embassy of the Palestinian State in Budapest does not issue a travel document for expelled Palestinians. Therefore there is no experience on the expulsion of Palestinians. Italy Yes In Italy the decision to grant the refugee or subsidiary protection status is made on an individual basis, according to the information and evidence emerging from the official interview with the Territorial Commission in charge of granting international protection. In the case of Palestinian asylum seekers, applicants are usually granted a form of protection and forced returns are not carried out. For more precise information, you may refer to the below Eurostat data referring to 2010 first instance decisions on applications submitted by Palestinian citizens: DECISION 2010 Total number of decisions 140 Total positive decisions 120 Geneva Convention status 100 Humanitarian status 0 Rejected 20 Subsidiary protection status 15 Temporary protection status 0 Latvia Yes There were no returnees to be forcibly removed to Palestine from Latvia. Lithuania Yes There were no such cases when the question of Palestinians return to Gaza had to be solved. Therefore we cannot answer to these questions. Luxembourg Yes 1. No. Luxembourg does not forcibly return rejected Palestinian asylum seekers neither to the West Bank neither to Gaza. During 2011 there have not been forced returns of rejected Palestinian asylum seekers. During this year there were only 8 applications from Palestinians in Luxembourg. During 2011, The Directorate of Immigration granted the status of subsidiary protection to one Palestinian, another Palestinian applicant was rejected; other applicant was excluded from the proceedings and in two other cases the authorities 4 of 6
declared themselves incompetent to deal with the application. Malta Yes Malta has no experience on the subject of return of Palestinians to Gaza and the West Bank. Netherlands No This EMN NCP has provided a response to the requesting EMN NCP. However, they have requested that it is not disseminated further. Portugal No This EMN NCP has provided a response to the requesting EMN NCP. However, they have requested that it is not disseminated further. Slovak Republic Yes 1. No 7. There were no cases of forced returns of Palestinians realized in the year 2011 and in the time from January 2012 until May 2012. Spain Yes Spain does not forcibly return Palestinians to Gaza and West Bank Sweden Yes 1. Sweden forcibly returns Palestinians to the West Bank and Gaza. 2. The returnees are often escorted by the Swedish Police to Jordan. The authorities in Jordan assist on the further transit to the border between Jordan and the West Bank. When it comes to routes for Gaza the Swedish Police have two different routines. One way, is that the police escort the returnees all the way to the border between Egypt and Gaza. The other routine is that the Swedish Police hands over the returnee to the Egyptian Police, who in turn assist with the transfer to Gaza. 3. The Swedish Police have a cooperation with the Jordanian Border Police who assist the returnee to the West Bank via Allenby Bridge. As for Gaza the Swedish Police applies for transit visas via the Egyptian Embassy in Stockholm. 4. When it comes to routes for Gaza the Swedish Police have two different routines. One way is that the Police escort the returnees all the way to the border between Egypt and Gaza. The other routine is that the Swedish Police hands over the returnee to the Egyptian Police, who in turn assist with the transfer to Gaza. 5. The returnees are often escorted by the Swedish Police to Jordan and then the Jordanian Border Police transfer the returnee to the West Bank. 6. Not relevant. 7.Not relevant 5 of 6
United Kingdom Yes 1. UKBA would attempt enforced removals to both Gaza and the West Bank. However, our problem is not the route but obtaining a travel document to remove on. 2. Gaza Egypt West Bank no established route 3. We have an agreement with the Egyptians to transit Gaza occupants through Egypt, however we hold no information available on the success of the route as no known removal has yet been attempted. 4. No information available 5. No information available 6. No information available 7. No information available Norway Yes 1. Norway forcibly returns Palestinians to the West Bank, but not to Gaza. 2. The routing that is used is through Jordan to the border of the West Bank (Allenby Bridge). 3. There is cooperation with the authorities in Jordan in these cases. Our ILO in Amman notifies the Immigration authorities about the arrival, who assist on the further transit to the border between Jordan and the West Bank (Allenby Bridge). 4. Norway does not forcibly return to Gaza. 5. The returnees are escorted by the Norwegian police to the border between Jordan and the West Bank (Allenby Bridge) with the assistance of the Jordan authorities. 6. Not relevant 7. Not relevant ************************ 6 of 6