skip to main content
Language:
Search Limited to: Search Limited to: Resource type Show Results with: Show Results with: Search type Index

Overcoming Refugee Containment and Crisis

German law journal, 2020-01, Vol.21 (1), p.17-22 [Peer Reviewed Journal]

Copyright Cambridge University Press 2020 ;ISSN: 2071-8322 ;EISSN: 2071-8322 ;DOI: 10.1017/glj.2019.89

Full text available

Citations Cited by
  • Title:
    Overcoming Refugee Containment and Crisis
  • Author: Costello, Cathryn
  • Subjects: Claims ; Containment ; Cost control ; Crises ; Cultural groups ; Illegal ; Migration ; Political asylum ; Politics ; Refugees ; Rule of law ; Rules ; Travel
  • Is Part Of: German law journal, 2020-01, Vol.21 (1), p.17-22
  • Description: Imagine a system in which you had to break the law and risk your life in order to enjoy its key right, a right to live lawfully in a political and legal community. That is the open secret at the heart of the so-called “Common European Asylum System” (“CEAS”). The EU and its Member States systematically erect barriers for those who would enter to claim asylum, forming part of the system of the containment of refugees in the Global South. Refugee containment is not only a European practice, but many of the policies and practices that are central to refugee containment are of fairly recent European origin. This Article identifies the costs of this refugee containment, not only for refugees and asylum-seekers, but also for Europe itself, its politics, and its adherence to the rule of law in particular. Containment contributed to the events styled as the 2015 refugee crisis in Europe, yet the crisis has generated a more intensified set of containment practices, also likely to backfire. Two clarifications at the outset: First, in focusing on containment, I could be accused of ignoring the positive, protective aspects of European asylum policies. Indeed, there have been some remarkably inclusive developments in Europe in the past years, such as the fairly high converging recognition rates for certain nationalities seeking protection, including those fleeing conflict. This Article, however, starts from the premise that refugee containment undermines any overall positive assessment of Europe’s treatment of refugees. Second, by focusing on illegalized refugees, I do not wish to suggest that most migration is illegal. Quite the contrary: Most migration is legal, by a large measure, and some asylum-seekers do manage to travel legally to claim asylum in Europe—those from the Western Balkans, for instance, and Venezuelans currently. Notably, in both cases their asylum claims are usually rejected, although most Venezuelans are currently allowed to stay under ad hoc national humanitarian permits. In contrast to many other travelers, however, those likely to seek asylum and get it are generally unlikely to be able to do so legally. Europe’s highly stratified admissions policies consistently exclude would-be asylum-seekers. This Article first sets out the costs of containment, and second suggests how Europe might overcome the containment-induced crisis and work to dismantle at least some aspects of containment.
  • Publisher: Toronto: Cambridge University Press
  • Language: English
  • Identifier: ISSN: 2071-8322
    EISSN: 2071-8322
    DOI: 10.1017/glj.2019.89
  • Source: Freely Accessible Journals at publisher websites
    ProQuest Central
    DOAJ Directory of Open Access Journals
Back to results list
INSPIRE LIBRARY - TON DUC THANG UNIVERSITY (84-028) 37 755 057 Feedback
19 Nguyen Huu Tho St. Dist.7, HCM thuvien@tdtu.edu.vn

Copyright © 2017 INSPIRE LIBRARY - TON DUC THANG UNIVERSITY

Searching Remote Databases, Please Wait