User:Maalmor/Asylum in the European Union

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Asylum in the European Union (EU) has its roots in the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, an agreement founded on Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Following the adoption of the 1985 Schengen Agreement on the elimination of internal border controls of signatory states and its subsequent incorporation into the EU legislative framework by the 1997 Amsterdam Treaty, the EU set up, in 2011, a Common European Asylum System (CEAS) to unify minimum standards related to asylum. The latter, however, still left up to EU Member States the discretion to establish procedures for obtaining and withdrawing international protection. The reforms implemented in the aftermath of the 2015 European migrant crisis culminated in the creation of the European Union Agency for Asylum on 19 January 2022, which will promote greater convergence of the different member states asylum and reception practices and ensure that high EU-standards are the guide.

RELEVANT LAW AND PROCEDURES

Since 1999, refugees entering Europe have been subject to the laws in place in accordance with the Common European Asylum System (CEAS). These laws were established to prohibit European Union Member States from sending individuals back to where they came from at risk of persecution, and to offer international protection to those who were granted refugee status through the course of the law. Upon arrival in an EU Member State, individuals and families seeking refugee status were subjected to a comprehensive assessment of their life in their country of origin. The CEAS was tasked with assessing if an individual was truly eligible for refugee status, or if, for example, they were an economic migrant, that is, someone who emigrates solely to improve their economic status. If through this highly bureaucratized process an individual was deemed a refugee, they were subsequently granted international protection. For this status and protection to be granted, the potential danger and harm that could follow suit after a person's return to their country of origin had to be established. If Member States did not find this to be true of an individual's conditions, they were mandated under the CEAS to return said individual to the country of origin, as they had therefore been deemed an "irregular economic migrant". However, due to many migrants' lack of paperwork or documentation, it was often difficult for EU Member States to actually execute this mandate, and some "irregular economic migrants" managed to continue their journey through the EU.

The 2015 European migrant crisis, which brought with it over a million refugees escaping war, political instability, and poverty, accentuated the shortcomings of the existing system and made evident the need for reform. The unequal distribution of the bureaucratic burden amongst different member states produced situations that demonstrated that the CEAS, as it stood, was not sufficient or adequate. Early on during the crisis, however, the EU's actions quickly shifted towards surveillance and securitization with Operation Triton. By 2016, it was already externalizing its border control through a 3 billion deal with Turkey. In 2017 the humanitarian NGO's carrying out search and rescue (SAR) operations became the object of a criminalization campaign on the part of EU member states, leading to the arrest of some ship captains, as well as to the seizure of most of their vessels, provoking international criticism and accusations towards the EU for dereliction of duty regarding SAR operations. The EU's policies in this regard contradict its alleged good will towards refugees and migrants. Such policies were responsible for numerous deaths at sea by preventing humanitarian NGOs search and rescue efforts. Despite all the difficulties imposed on them, humanitarian NGOs continue to carry out SAR operations in the Mediterranean.

In 2020, the European Commission, at the request of the European Parliament, proposed a series of reforms to the existing system through a comprehensive approach anchored on three mainstays: 1) Efficient asylum and return procedures, 2) Solidarity and fair share of responsibility, and 3) Strengthened partnerships with third countries. The Common European Asylum System (CEAS) is now governed by five legislative instruments and one agency:


 * 1) The Asylum Procedures Directive, which establishes a common international protection procedure.
 * 2) The Receptions Conditions Directive, which ensures equal standards of reception conditions throughout the EU.
 * 3) The Qualifications Directive, which refers to who qualifies for the different statuses.
 * 4) The Dublin Regulation, which helps establish which country is responsible for the asylum application process.
 * 5) The EURODAC Regulation, an IT system established to collect, transmit, and compare fingerprints to help determine which member state is responsible.
 * 6) The European Union Agency for Asylum, effectively replacing the European Asylum Support Office (EASO), which had been investigated by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) due to alleged misconduct and breaches of data protection amongst other charges.

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