Several associations requested the Council of State to annul the deliberations of 5 November 2019 by which the board of directors of the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (OFPRA) decided not to modify the list of countries considered to be safe countries of origin which had been set by deliberation of 9 October 2015, in application of article L. 722-1 of the code of entry and stay of foreigners and the right of asylum (CESEDA). The Council of State annulled the deliberations.

Regarding the maintenance of the inclusion on the list of Benin, the Council noted that it appears from the documents available that the situation in this country had deteriorated in a worrying way, as it going through a serious political crisis, in particular since the legislative elections of April 2019, and there is a restriction of rights and freedoms and of the independence of the judiciary. It was further observed that as soon as it noted a rapid deterioration of the situation in a country included in the list of safe countries of origin, the administration of the OFPRA could not legally limit itself to provide for the re-examination of the listing of this country at the end of a period of six months, without immediately drawing any consequences pursuant to the eleventh paragraph of Article L. 722-1 of the CESEDA.

With regard to Senegal and Ghana, the Council concluded that it does not appear from the documents in the files that the board of directors of OFPRA would have incorrectly assessed the general political situation of these countries, which have democratic institutions and conduct free and pluralist elections, guarantee the exercise of fundamental freedoms and are parties to the Convention against Torture and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. However, given the existence of legislative provisions criminalising homosexual relations in Senegal and Ghana, OFPRA could not, without committing an error of assessment, consider these states to be safe countries of origin in examining the requests presented by their nationals.