In three judgments handed down on 6 August 2024, the 2nd Senate of the Hessian High Administrative Court has ruled that male recognised refugees who return to Greece alone, who are young, healthy and able to work, are in any case not at risk of being treated in violation of their human rights due to systemic weaknesses in the Greek reception system. This means that they are not entitled to a further asylum procedure in Germany. The situation may be different for persons with special individual circumstances.
The applicants in all three cases had already been granted international protection in Greece. They then travelled on to Germany and applied for asylum again. The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees rejected the asylum applications as inadmissible, without examining their content, because of the protection status already obtained in Greece. The applicants appealed unsuccessfully against this decision to the Administrative Court of Giessen. The aim of their appeal was to be granted refugee status in Germany.
The 2nd Senate of the Hessian High Administrative Court has now dismissed the appeals against the judgments of the Giessen Administrative Court in two cases (2 A 489/23.A and 2 A 1131/24.A).
The reasoning of the Senate was essentially that the plaintiffs were not at risk of inhuman or degrading treatment in Greece within the meaning of Art. 4 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union or Art. 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, for example in the form of homelessness or destitution. Based on current information sources, the Greek reception system for recognised beneficiaries of protection shows significant shortcomings. However, male recognised beneficiaries of protection who return to Greece alone and who are young, healthy and able to work do not meet the particularly high threshold of relevance according to the case law of the European Court of Justice. Members of this group were generally able to overcome the considerable shortcomings of the Greek reception system during the first six months by taking the initiative to find accommodation and work.
In the third case (2 A 1132/24.A), the Senate upheld the appeal. For persons of pensionable age who are unable to work due to illness and who cannot expect help from relatives, there are systemic deficiencies in Greece in the first six months after they return so that they risk being treated in a way which violates human rights.
In all three cases, the Senate has granted leave to appeal to the Federal Administrative Court, as this deviates from the case law of numerous other higher administrative courts in Germany, which generally assume that there are systemic deficiencies in Greece.
The appeal has already been lodged in one case (2 A 1131/24.A).
Case numbers: 2 A 489/23.A, 2 A 1132/24.A and 2 A 1131/24.A.
Source: Press release of the Hess. VGH of 30 August 2024
