Abstract

The recent case "Tarakhel v. Switzerland" of the European Court of Human Rights concerning the transfer of an asylum seekers' family to Italy represents a landmark decision in clarifying criteria relating to the concept of Safe Country on which many States rely when they transfer asylum seekers within the Dublin system. In this regard, the decision to recover to individual assurances in order to turn the Dublin transfer to Italy into an act adopted in accordance with art. 3 of ECHR represents an innovative approach by the Strasburg Court. On the one hand, recovering to individual assurances represents a step forward in the direction to provide an effective protection to asylum seekers; on the other hand, this mechanism might jeopardize the principle of solidarity and mutual responsibility among EU member States.