Snapshot of EU Today
(2007)
Europe hosted only 14% of worlds refugees.
220,000 asylum applications were received. One third of those received in 1992.
2010 Report...
- Capacity: Sweden, Finland, France, Ireland and UK highest capacity ranking while Romania, Bulgaria and Malta have lowest
The Move Towards
the Common
European Asylum System
Future exploration:
- Responsibility: Malta, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Poland. Luxembourg and Baltic Countries are the lowest. Ireland and Denmark evenly matched.
- Fair Share: Sweden and Greece highest, Germany Spain Italy lowest
Article 18 "the right to asylum shall be guaranteed with due respect for the rules of the Geneva convention [...] relating to the status of refugees."
1. 1999 - 2004: Tampere Program
2a. Charter of Fundamental Rights
2. 2009: Treaty of Lisbon
History of Asylum
in the EU
3a. European Refugee Fund
3. The Stockholm Programme
Other frameworks and types of analysis especially re: public goods framework
"A common area of protection and solidarity based on a common asylum procedure and a uniform status for those granted international protection"
Breakup of Yugoslavia
UNHCR calls for lasting solution
Europe, no thanks. Finally...
Development on the "moral" why should we care basis.
"in accordance with national capabilities"
Post WWII
"in the context of coordinated action by all member states"
Over 40 million refugees in Europe
By the Numbers
- 2,700,000 displaced people
- +700,000 asylum applications for Europe
UN High Commission On Refugees created temporarily
Better review of models of burden sharing
We lost our home, which means the familiarity of daily life. We lost our occupation, which means the confidence that we are of some use in this world. We lost our language which means the naturalness of reactions, the simplicity of gestures, the unaffected expression of feelings. We left our relatives in the polish ghettos and our best friends have been killed in concentration camps and that means the rupture of our private lives. – Hannah Arendt, We Refugees
Early Asylum Mechanisms
1986 Ad Hoc Group on Migration
1990 Dublin Convention
1992 Intergovernmental Consultations of Asylum and Immigration
The Problem
Why do we care?
Rawlsian view of justice
Destination Factors
Human rights argument
Luck egalitarian
- Rich countries
- High economic growth rate
- Low unemployment
- Higher share of past asylum seekers
- Geographical proximity
- Generous welfare provisions
- Former colonial power
Two Models
of Burden Sharing
Climbing asylum figures
1. Financial Side Payments
- Less popular countries likely to agree
- Doesn't interfere with fundamental determinants of destination choice
2. Reallocation of Asylum Seekers
- Clashes with the factors that push people to move their in the first place
- Might try to go to desired country illegally
- Morally is this ok?
- May deter individuals from applying for asylum which could be desirable
One asylum seeker for every 2200 EU inhabitants
Lenses for Analysis
Public Good?
Non excludable
Non-rival
Various Frameworks
What is a Refugee
1. Altruistic public good: jointly held moral duty and obligation under international law
2. Security public good: asylum seekers perceived as a cost, thus containing their flow is a benefit to the ability to control entry and exit and security systems within a country
Instrumental: macro-economic reasons. Source of employment.
Communitarian model: participating states share a sense of values and obligations towards victims.
Any person who: owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country
Hegemonic scheme: one major actor sets forth rules for collective actions and pressures peers to agree.
Humanitarian: states are concerned on bases of human rights
1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees