Refugees seeking asylum in European countries must do so in the first country they reach, even in exceptional circumstances, the European Court of Justice ruled on Wednesday.
The case, which was brought by Austria and Slovenia, relates to migrants who arrived during the crisis of 2015-16, and could result in several hundred people being affected.
The European Union's top court upheld the Dublin Regulation, which states that refugees must seek asylum in the first place they reach.
Two Afghan families and a Syrian, who had first arrived in the EU via Croatia, had argued that they had exceptional circumstances for applying for asylum in neighbouring Slovenia.
The asylum seekers claimed that the 2015 migration crisis meant that the Dublin rule should be suspended in certain cases.
Austria and Slovenia had decided to send the asylum seekers back to Croatia after they had been sent to the border with Slovenia via bus by the Croatian authorities.
The court has now ruled that Croatia must decide on whether their application will be accepted and they can stay there, rather than the other states making the decision.
Critics of the Dublin rule, which is seen as an unfair burden on southern EU nations, where many migrants arrive first, had hoped the court might rule in favour of the asylum seekers' arguments.
In a statement announcing the decision, the court said: "A member state which has decided on humanitarian grounds to authorise the entry on its territory of a non-EU national who does not have a visa... cannot be absolved of that responsibility."
Austrian lawyer Clemens Lahner warned that hundreds in Croatia would feel the effect of the ECJ's decision.
He told the BBC: "For those already in Croatia - 700 or so - for them the story is over. Austria won't take them back."
In 2015, Germany temporarily suspended the EU's rule for Syrian refugees, forfeiting the country's right to send asylum seekers back to the first EU country they arrived in.
However, the decision was criticised by Germany's EU partners when many of the refugees ended up seeking asylum in neighbouring Austria.
Around 90,000 applied to stay in the German-speaking central European country, the equivalent of 1 per cent of its population.
The Dublin rule has been suspended in Greece, one of two main entry points for migrants from Africa and the Middle East since the crisis began in 2015.
However, the landmark ruling is set to have wider implications for Italy, the other main entry points for migrants, as it, unlike Greece, is still subject to the Dublin rule.
In this year alone 81,000 migrants have arrived in Italy, which is 14,000 more than in the same period in 2016.
Meanwhile, in a separate case on Wednesday the ECJ was advised to dismiss a challenge brought forward by Slovakia and Hungary opposing a 2015 European Council decision that countries must take in hundreds of asylum-seekers.
Advocate General Yves Bot rejected the challenge to the decision, which would see Hungary temporarily take in 1,294 asylum-seekers and Slovakia 902. The judgement by the Advocate General is often indicative of what the EJC's final ruling will be.
"The contested decision automatically helps to relieve the considerable pressure on the asylum systems of Italy and Greece following the migration crisis in the summer of 2015 and… is thus appropriate for attaining the objective which it pursues", Bot explained.
The resettlement plan had been designed to deal with the crisis of 2015 and temporarily relocate 120,000 migrants.
However, as well as Hungary and Slovakia, it was unpopular in other EU member states with Poland and Romania voting against the relocation plan at the time.
A final ruling on the matter by the ECJ is expected to take place after the summer break.
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Jumanji: The Next Level
Director: Jake Kasdan
Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, Jack Black, Nick Jonas
Two out of five stars
Tips to keep your car cool
- Place a sun reflector in your windshield when not driving
- Park in shaded or covered areas
- Add tint to windows
- Wrap your car to change the exterior colour
- Pick light interiors - choose colours such as beige and cream for seats and dashboard furniture
- Avoid leather interiors as these absorb more heat
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MATCH INFO
Fixture: Thailand v UAE, Tuesday, 4pm (UAE)
TV: Abu Dhabi Sports
The biog
Favourite colour: Brown
Favourite Movie: Resident Evil
Hobbies: Painting, Cooking, Imitating Voices
Favourite food: Pizza
Trivia: Was the voice of three characters in the Emirati animation, Shaabiyat Al Cartoon
Barcelona 3
Messi (27’, 32’, 87’)
Leganes 1
El Zhar (68’)
If you go
- The nearest international airport to the start of the Chuysky Trakt is in Novosibirsk. Emirates (www.emirates.com) offer codeshare flights with S7 Airlines (www.s7.ru) via Moscow for US$5,300 (Dh19,467) return including taxes. Cheaper flights are available on Flydubai and Air Astana or Aeroflot combination, flying via Astana in Kazakhstan or Moscow. Economy class tickets are available for US$650 (Dh2,400).
- The Double Tree by Hilton in Novosibirsk ( 7 383 2230100,) has double rooms from US$60 (Dh220). You can rent cabins at camp grounds or rooms in guesthouses in the towns for around US$25 (Dh90).
- The transport Minibuses run along the Chuysky Trakt but if you want to stop for sightseeing, hire a taxi from Gorno-Altaisk for about US$100 (Dh360) a day. Take a Russian phrasebook or download a translation app. Tour companies such as Altair-Tour ( 7 383 2125115 ) offer hiking and adventure packages.
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Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
Film: Raid
Dir: Rajkumar Gupta
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Ileana D'cruz and Saurabh Shukla
Verdict: Three stars
UAE and Russia in numbers
UAE-Russia ties stretch back 48 years
Trade between the UAE and Russia reached Dh12.5 bn in 2018
More than 3,000 Russian companies are registered in the UAE
Around 40,000 Russians live in the UAE
The number of Russian tourists travelling to the UAE will increase to 12 percent to reach 1.6 million in 2023
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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