History of asylum and Ofpra

Conflict in Darfur (Sudan)

This sees the beginning of a constant increase in the number of Sudanese asylum seekers over  the next 20 years.
Law of 10 December 2003: introduction of the notion of safe countries of origin (SCO) with the list of SCO being fixed by the Board of OFPRA.
Implementation of the subsidiary protection which supersedes the territorial asylum of the Law of 1998. It allows fears due to internal or international armed conflict to be taken into account based on reasons not explicitly envisaged by the Geneva Convention, such as gender or sexual orientation. These asylum requests, as well as those resulting from human trafficking – notably for sexual exploitation – and those concerning female victims of violence, represent a growing part of the requests for protection during the 2000s and 2010s.
The Dublin II Regulation instituted on 18 February replaces the 1990 Dublin Convention

Mains nationalities of asylum seekers : Turks, Chinese, Algerians, Congolese (DRC).

Common European Asylum System (CEAS): the first “qualification” directive of the European Union fixing minimal communal norms for the consideration of requests for protection, in terms of refugee status and subsidiary protection.
Creation of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex): the agency coordinates the cooperation of Member States in terms of the management of external borders, notably in situations which require increased assistance at these borders, in the organisation of joint return operations and in the training of nation al border guards.
Implementation of the reform of the right to asylum by the law of 11 December 2003 and the decree of 14 August 2004. The Office becomes the only dedicated asylum application service centre in France and the Border Asylum Office is transferred here.

Agreement of 29 September 2006 with the HCR for operational cooperation and a deployment of OFPRA protection officers to certain HCR offices for missions lasting two or three months.

Main nationalities of asylum seekers : Serbs, Turks, Russians, Sri Lankans.

Law of 20 November 2007 transfers the administrative and financial oversight of OFPRA from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Ministry of Immigration, Integration, National Identity and Co-development.

Main nationalities of asylum seekers : Russians, Serbs and Kosovars, Turks et Sri Lankans.

Signature of a framework agreement with the HCR for the resettlement of refugees.
Adoption of the first European Pact on Immigration and Asylum which intends to lay the foundations for the second phase of the Common European Asylum System. Among the measures to be taken are: the creation of a European Asylum Support Office, to promote exchanges of experience, analyses and information between the bodies responsible for evaluating asylum requests within the different Member States.
Extraordinary reception of Iraqis belonging to vulnerable minorities.

The top three countries of origin alone (Kosovo, Sri Lanka, and Armenia) represent a quarter of applications.

In 2009 the Office processes resettlement cases: Iraqis received within the framework of an exceptional reception operation, the transfers of refugees effected under the agreement between the French government and the HCR, and finally the care France provided for people initially seeking refuge in Malta.
The creation in early 2009 of the European and International Affairs Mission invigorated OFPRA’s participation in European projects, especially the EAC (joint training of instructors) and ECS (the sharing of information on countries of origin).
The Protection division has the new mission of checking the medical certificates of young girls benefitting from protection due to a risk of excision, to avoid the mutilation of these children.
The OFPRA management opens the OFPRA archives, which had been closed to the public since 1952.