Defending Refugees’ Access to Protection in Europe
- Document number
- 1986
- Date
- 2007
- Title
- Defending Refugees’ Access to Protection in Europe
- Author/publisher
- European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE)
- Availability
- View/save PDF version of this document
- Document type(s)
- Research/Study/Analysis,
- Keywords
- Migrant rights; Migration management; Comprehensive approach to migration; Migration policy; Restrictive migration measures, Irregular Migration, Feminization of migration, Economic migration, Labour migration, Free movement, Undocumented migrants; Undocumented labour;
- Summary
- Recent times have seen significant year on year decreases in the number of persons seeking asylum on the territories of European Union countries. This year the number of refugees worldwide rose for the first time in many years while the number of asylum applications in the European Union (EU) reached a 20 year low. There are probably a number of factors influencing these trends. For example, more persons may be choosing to remain irregularly rather than enter an asylum procedure, for reasons including lack of confidence in the asylum systems, a fear of being detained or transferred under the Dublin II Regulation, being under the control of traffickers. However it is also beyond doubt that the constant tightening of EU border controls is having a major impact in preventing refugees from seeking asylum in Europe. With barely any legal migration routes into the EU from third countries, migrants are forced into resorting to irregular means of travel. This often means people placing themselves in the hands of unscrupulous smugglers or traffickers and / or taking life-threatening risks to complete the journey to Europe.
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