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Lord Hardy of Wath
asked Her Majesty's Government:What is their policy in regard to applications for asylum from citizens of member states of the Council of Europe which have accepted the obligation to observe human rights. [HL1560]
Lord Bassam of Brighton
We will consider such applications on their merits, as the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees requires us to do. Those which are unfounded will be refused, and those which are manifestly unfounded or fall under one of the other grounds in paragraph 5 of Schedule 2 to the Asylum and Immigration Act 1993 will be certified, with the consequence that any appeal against the refusal is accelerated.