EU Immigration and Asylum Law and Policy Droit et Politique de l'Immigration et de l'Asile de l'UE

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By Janna Wessels, assistant professor of migration law at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Research Associate at Giessen University

Policies of ‘planned destitution’ in the EU

The increased use of social and economic exclusion as a policy tool with a view to managing certain groups of ‘undesirable’ migrants is one of the major trends in European asylum and migration policy. While this already occurs under the current legislative framework, the most recent reform proposals tabled by the European Commission appear to tighten such policies.

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By Dr Meltem Ineli Ciger, Jean Monnet Fellow, MPC, EUI

Introduction

To respond to the large-scale displacement of Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion, the European Union (EU) unanimously adopted the Council Implementing Decision 2022/382 of 4 March 2022 and activated the Council Directive 2001/55/EC (Temporary Protection Directive). 4 March 2023 marked the first year of the Temporary Protection Directive’s implementation. Considering the temporary protection regimes cannot continue for more than three years (as per Article 4 of the Directive) it is high time to start planning what happens next. This post briefly outlines possible scenarios following the end of temporary protection of Ukrainians in the Union and discusses how temporary protection beneficiaries can access to durable solutions.

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By Eleonora Frasca and Dr. Francesco Luigi Gatta, Université Catholique de Louvain, UCLouvain (Belgium), members of the Equipe droits et migrations (EDEM)

While the New Pact on Migration and Asylum remains stuck in Brussels between negotiations and renewals of the Council’s presidencies, ‘emergencies’ routinely shaken the EU migration and asylum governance and prompt a plethora of soft law solutions. These acts have been mushrooming in the last few years. The most recent example is the EU Action Plan for the Central Mediterranean, presented on 21 November 2022 by the Commissioner for Home Affairs and later endorsed by the extraordinary JHA Council on 25 November 2022. It lists 20 actions ‘to address the immediate and ongoing challenges along the Central Mediterranean route’.

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By Joris van Wijk is associate professor criminology  and Maarten P. Bolhuis is assistant professor criminology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdamd ,  Center for International Criminal Justice

January 2023 a former commander with the infamous Russian mercenary Wagner Group – Andrey Medvedev – sought asylum in Norway. He claims to have deserted the organization, to have witnessed Wagner group members committing war crimes in Ukraine and to be willing to assist in holding them criminally accountable. This case raises a complex conundrum; can and should deserters like Medvedev be granted protection? And at what price?

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By Professors Elspeth Guild, Queen Mary University of London & Valsamis Mitsilegas, University of Liverpool

In September 2022, the long-awaited report by OLAF, (European Anti-Fraud Office), on Frontex was unofficially made public. Its contents had been made available to the European Parliament’s LIBE committee earlier in the year and the director of Frontex resigned at the end of April, a direct result of the damning contents of the report. The report sets out in great details eight cases where Frontex staff: (a) witnessed but did nothing to stop illegal push-backs of boats full of people seeking to make protection claims in Greece, (b) failed to make serious incident reports of fundamental rights violations or (c) relocated surveillance planes so that they would not record evidence of illegal push-backs. Clearly these meticulously documented illegal acts and cover ups are representative rather that definitive of the unfortunate activities of the agency in the eastern Aegean since the opening of Frontex’s operation there.

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By Dr Efthymios (Akis) Papastavridis

On 1 August 2022, the Court of Justice delivered its preliminary ruling on two joined cases (see here) concerning the conduct of Italian authorities over Sea Watch vessels that had disembarked rescued persons in Italian ports in 2020. Sea Watch is a humanitarian organisation which systematically carries out activities relating to the search for and rescue of persons in the Mediterranean Sea, using ships that it owns and operates. During the summer of 2020, Sea Watch 3 and Sea Watch 4, both flagged to Germany, carried out rescue operations and disembarked the persons rescued at sea in the ports of Palermo and Porto Empedocle (Italy). They were then subject to inspections by the harbour master’s offices because they were not certified in respect of search and rescue activities at sea and had taken persons on board in much greater numbers than they are supposed to do.

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