MSS v. Belgium

M.S.S. v. BELGIUM AND GREECE - 30696/09 [2011] ECHR 108 (21 January 2011)

The Applicant was an Afghan asylum seeker who entered the EU through Greece and made a claim in Belgium. In accordance with the Dublin Regulations, he was to be sent back to Greece, where he originally entered. A claim was entered against Greece and Belgium in the ECHR. The ECHR found that in the Applicant’s case:

…the Court finds that there has been a violation of Article 13 of the Convention taken in conjunction with Article 3 because of the deficiencies in the Greek authorities' examination of the applicant's  asylum  request and the risk he faces of being returned directly or indirectly to his country of origin without any serious examination of the merits of his  asylum  application and without having access to an effective remedy. (para. 321)

Article 3 of the European Convention prohibits torture, and Article 13 is the right to an effective remedy. The ECHR also found that in transferring the Applicant back, it breached his rights under Article 3 (paras. 360, 367).