Recommendations Made to the UNHCR

(from Iranian Refugees At Risk Spring 95)

The following recommendations were made to the UNHCR's Branch Office in Turkey to bring the Office's status determination procedure in line with international standards. They are based on safeguards and provisions that are common to many other international administrative or judicial determination processes to guarantee fairness but are absent from the Office's procedure:

LEGAL ADVICE AND REPRESENTATION

• Detailed information of the nature of the determination mechanism--including the procedures and criteria for determining refugee status--should be provided to every asylum seeker in writing well in advance of the interview.
• Adequate individual legal advice and assistance should be made available to every asylum seeker at every stage of the proceedings. Provisions should be made to assign a legal officer not involved in deciding cases or to engage volunteer lawyers and trained lay persons, particularly Farsi language speakers, to assist asylum seekers in the preparation of their cases. Steps should be taken to make arrangements with non-governmental organizations and local lawyers if necessary.
• Asylum seekers should be accorded the right to have their appointed representatives present at the interview, during which time representatives should be free to put questions to their clients and to make representations on their behalf. Written submissions from representatives/advocates should be included in an applicant's eligibility determination.

RIGHTS IN THE INTERVIEW:

• Contemporaneous notes taken during the interview should be read back to the asylum seeker, who should be given the right to amend the record before signing it. A complete transcript of each interview should be made available to every asylum seeker and her/his representative/advocate before a decision is made on the application.
• Interview rights should be defined and asylum seekers should receive information about their rights in the interview and how to object if these are violated.
• Interviews should be non-adversarial. Applicants should receive a chance to hear apparent objections to their claim and a chance to overcome the objections before the decision maker and before a decision is made. If necessary, additional interviews should be arranged before a decision is made.
• There should be proper oversight to be sure that interview procedures are conducted in a sympathetic manner and that questioning of the applicant has been thorough and fair. To ensure unprejudiced decisions by examiners, the rate of approvals of each adjudicator should be considered and open for scrutiny. Y Interpreters should be selected based on standardized criteria and should receive training before assisting in interviews.
• Applicants should be free to take notes.
• In order to ensure that interviews have been thorough and fair and that adequate interpretation has been provided, interviews should be tape recorded. Tapes should be available for transcription on request by the applicant or her/his representative.

APPEAL:

• A formal appeal procedure should be set up, whereby all appellants, including those whose cases are assessed as "manifestly unfounded" or "abusive of procedure" receive adequate protection against deportation while their appeal are pending.
• A complete written statement of the reasons for negative decision in each case, including findings of fact and law, should be made available to all asylum seekers well in advance of the deadline for appeal. In the least, if the reasons are going to be given to the applicant orally, an exclusive session should be arranged for stating these reasons. This session should take place prior to the deadline for an appeal.
• Files concerning asylum applications should be open to the asylum seeker and her/his representative/advocate. Asylum seekers should be allowed to inspect adverse information received by the office regarding their case. Information from any source that cannot be disclosed to the applicant should not be accepted.
• An applicant's right to appeal must not be restricted solely to cases involving new information. It should be expanded to include disputes on facts. application of criteria as well as procedural flaws.
• Because of the limitations on having to appeal to the same body, arrangements should be made so that a final appeal can be lodged with an independent body, for example, with the UNHCR Headquarters.
• The role of representatives/advocates must become part of the appeal proceedings.