In focus > News 10/12/2018

The training entitled „The Implementation of the Law on General Administrative Procedure in the Asylum Granting Procedure“ has been held for employees of the Asylum Office

Within the second stage of the project „Support to Strengthening Migration and Asylum Management in Republic of Serbia,“ carried out by International Organization for Migration (IOM) with the support of the British Embassy in Belgrade, the training entitled „The Implementation of the Law on General Administrative Procedure in the Asylum Granting Procedure“ for employees of the Asylum Office was conducted in the Castle of Ecka, in Ecka, on October 10th and 11th, 2018. This is the first event within the Building Capacities Programme for employees of the Asylum Office. The Programme itself was created in cooperation of the AIRE Centre from Great Britain, the Asylum Office and the IOM project team.

 

The training participants were welcomed by Tanja Azanjac Janjatović, the coordinator of the Capacity Building Programme, International Organization for Migration (IOM), Prof. Dr. Ivana Krstić, the AIRE Centre National Project Manager and a senior legal expert, and Dr. Vuk Cucić, senior lecturer at the Law Faculty of the Belgrade University and the trainer at this seminar.

 

„Last year we tried to recognize the ways in which we can make the Programme the most useful, that is, the ways to provide the greatest possible support. This year, we devised new activities that can be beneficial in the work at hand, providing at the same time support and assistance in cases being currently processed. In order to advance the project, we engaged the AIRE Centre, the task of which is to devise, conduct and change the process of capacity building in order to respond to the current needs as much as possible,“ Tanja Azanjac Janjatović, the coordinator of the Capacity Building Programme, has said.

 

At the beginning of the first day of the training, Prof. Dr. Ivana Krstić presented the programme of support to the work of the Asylum Office.

„The significance of the Asylum Office and the Administrative Court can particularly be witnessed at the present moment, given that implementation of the Asylum Law has just begun. We still do not know what challenges we will encounter, but we will solve them jointly as we go along, in practical work. The Asylum Office is still the main actor in the procedure of granting an asylum, which is why it is very important that people working there should be very well informed about the novelties the regulations bring, especially possibilities for overcoming challenges. We hope that in the future, cooperation between the Asylum Commission, which now has a new make-up, and the Asylum Office, will be even more intensive and that it will lead to advancement of the procedure of granting an asylum in Serbia.“

 

In the first part of the first day of the training, Dr. Vuk Cucić, the Law Faculty senior lecturer, presented new norms contained in the Law on General Administrative Procedure that affect the procedure of granting an asylum, while in the second part of the day, the following topics have been discussed:

1. How to construct a first-instance administrative decision
2. What does conducting the urgent procedure entail?
3. Is it necessary to first consider reasons for rejecting the asylum request?
4. Is it possible to do away with the grounds contained in an annulled administrative decision without an explanation?

 

In the course of the second day of the training, the group worked on identifying challenges in preparation and writing of first-instance administrative decisions, discussed concrete formal-legal shortcomings of administrative decisions, talked about their needs and made plans for additional mentoring support. It was followed by evaluation of the training.