The Republics of Benin, Senegal and Ghana will no longer be part of the list of so-called “safe” immigration countries. This list of 16 countries established by
Ofpra (French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons) is controversial because it reduces the chances of obtaining asylum. Indeed, with the entry into force of the asylum-immigration law at the end of 2019, the nationals of these countries are exposed to an expulsion procedure as soon as their asylum application is rejected at first instance, without giving any chance to a first resort.
Several associations, in particular for the defense of LGBT people, then turned to the highest administrative court, after Ofpra, responsible for granting refugee status, decided on November 5, 2019 not to modify this list, unchanged since 2015. “The deliberation of November 5, 2019 of the Board of Directors of Ofpra is canceled” and “the Republics of Benin, Senegal and Ghana” must be removed from this list, ruled the Council of State in his decision.
Risks linked to the “sexual orientation” of nationals
Nationals of these three countries will therefore no longer be subject to accelerated procedures for their asylum applications, another consequence of placing a country on the list. Regarding Benin, Ofpra had already decided in September 2020 to suspend its status as a “safe country of origin” for twelve months, without removing it from this list. Concerning Senegal and Ghana, it is the risks linked to the “sexual orientation” of their nationals which motivated the decision.
“In view of the existence of legislative provisions penalizing homosexual relations in Senegal and Ghana and the persistence of behaviors, encouraged, favored or simply tolerated by the authorities of these countries, leading to people being able to actually fear to to be exposed to such risks, Ofpra could not, without committing an error of assessment, consider these States to be safe countries of origin in the examination of the requests presented by their nationals ”, we can read in the text.