Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on the institution of asylum, exacerbating longer term trends limiting the ability of asylum seekers to cross-borders to seek protection. As a result, the early months of 2020 saw an effective extinguishment of the right to seek asylum. This working paper examines how this played out in Australia, Canada, Europe and the United States. National and regional responses varied, with Australia and the United States effectively ending asylum seeking. In Europe, some states upheld the right to seek asylum by exempting asylum seekers from general border closures, while other countries used the crisis to suspend the right to seek asylum. Finally, this working paper explores strategies for restoring and protecting the right to seek asylum beyond the pandemic.
Highlights
The global pandemic has stopped asylum seekers in their tracks, as states across the world have sealed their borders, suspended asylum procedures and – in some cases – summarily deported asylum seekers
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on the institution of asylum, exacerbating longer term trends limiting the ability of asylum seekers to cross-borders to seek protection
Others have been implemented quietly and informally behind the scenes under the cover of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is presently near-impossible for most asylum seekers to travel to access protection. While these drastic measures have come as immediate responses to the spread of COVID-19 across borders, they are a best understood as an exacerbation of underlying tendencies toward the extinguishment of the right to seek asylum in the Global North
Summary
The global pandemic has stopped asylum seekers in their tracks, as states across the world have sealed their borders, suspended asylum procedures and – in some cases – summarily deported asylum seekers. Others have been implemented quietly and informally behind the scenes under the cover of the COVID-19 pandemic As a result, it is presently near-impossible for most asylum seekers to travel to access protection. The extent to which the right to seek asylum will bounce back from this state of emergency footing remains to be seen, COVID-19 and its unfolding consequences provide an apt opportunity to explore the implications of a potential end of a right to seek asylum and set out some thinking on how to prevent that eventuality. We canvass ways to protect the right to seek asylum beyond the pandemic
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