La Strada Documentation Center

Reconciling refugee protection with efforts to combat irregular migration: the case of Turkey and the European Union

Document number
2097
Date
2004
Title
Reconciling refugee protection with efforts to combat irregular migration: the case of Turkey and the European Union
Author/publisher
Kemal Kirişci, Global Migration Perspectives, No. 11
Availability
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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
The paper will argue that these efforts to overhaul the system are trapped between two conflicting pressures. Turkey is, on the one hand, under pressure to improve its asylum system to match EU and international standards and on the other hand it is expected to combat irregular transit migration as immigration issues become "securitized" in many EU member countries. The emphasis that the EU governments and publics have been putting on the security dimension of asylum and irregular migration risks jeopardizing the gains that have been achieved in Turkey in terms of human rights. The paper will conclude by arguing that greater emphasis on a developmental approach in addressing the challenges created by asylum and illegal migration trends over the last decade or so may better help to reconcile human rights and security priorities.
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