Asylum Procedures Research Articles

Legal status and refugees' perceptions of institutional justice: The role of communication quality

AbstractWhat factors influence refugees' perceptions of justice in bureaucratic institutions? As global migration movements draw increasing attention, migrants' experiences as constituents in destination countries merit further research. Drawing evidence from the 2018 survey of refugees participating in the German Socio‐Economic Panel, this article examines the role of legal status in shaping perceptions of justice at government offices. Our findings highlight a stark contrast: refugees with unstable legal statuses often perceive bureaucratic proceedings as less just compared to those with firmer legal standings. However, refugees' perceptions of a more positive encounter their encounters with street‐level bureaucrats can act as a buffer against the negative effects of legal status on perceptions of justice at government offices. These insights underscore a pressing policy implication: asylum procedures, currently marked by ambiguity and delays, could benefit significantly from enhanced communication quality on the part of street‐level bureaucrats.

International and temporary protection in EU law: legal frameworks and challenges of practical implementation

The article analyzes the legal foundations for the protection of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) within the context of the European Union (EU) and Ukraine. The focus is on international and European legal instruments that regulate refugee status and provide temporary protection to individuals affected by armed conflicts. The article particularly examines the EU’s Temporary Protection Directive (2001/55/EC) and the Qualification Directive (2011/95/EU) and the Asylum Procedures Directive (2013/32/EU), which harmonize refugee protection across Member States and ensure consistency in asylum procedures establishing legal frameworks for granting protection to those fleeing war, especially in the context of russia’s aggression against Ukraine. The urgency of this article is highlighted by the war in Ukraine, which has led to unprecedented displacement in Europe, testing the capacities of EU Member States and exposing both strengths and gaps in existing legal frameworks. The paper also addresses the evolving nature of international refugee protection and its alignment with human rights doctrines, offering a comprehensive analysis of how international and regional legal standards interact in practice. This article explores how international frameworks for refugee protection, particularly the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, have been incorporated into the European Union’s legal system. These international instruments define the rights of refugees and the obligations of states, especially regarding the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits the return of individuals to countries where their lives or freedom may be at risk. In the EU, these frameworks are primarily integrated through the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) and it’s key component - the Qualification Directive (2011/95/EU), which aligns EU law with international standards on refugee protection. The study emphasizes the importance of procedural safeguards, including fair and transparent asylum processes and special protections for vulnerable groups. In addition, the EU’s Temporary Protection Directive (2001/55/EC) plays a key role in addressing mass displacement, offering immediate protection in situations of crisis. This directive was activated for the first time in 2022 in response to the war in Ukraine, providing a coordinated EU-wide approach to managing the influx of displaced Ukrainians and preventing the collapse of national asylum systems. The article also discusses the legal challenges and issues that the EU and Ukraine face in providing protection and support to refugees and IDPs. The research underscores the importance of coordination between the EU and Ukraine’s legal systems to ensure proper protection for asylum seekers. An essential aspect is the harmonization of approaches and the improvement of the effectiveness of legal mechanisms in response to current global migration challenges. The findings emphasize the need for continued legal collaboration between the parties to create a more comprehensive and consistent system for refugee protection.

(In)credibly queer? Assessments of asylum claims based on sexual orientation

AbstractPurposeQueer asylum‐seekers should be given an opportunity to have their claim evaluated in a fair and unbiased manner. Despite this, research shows they risk having their claims rejected based on stereotypes about sexual minorities. In the present study, we investigated how the Finnish Immigration Service evaluated credibility in asylum claims lodged by sexual minorities.MethodsWe analysed 68 negative asylum decisions to assess the arguments made to reject the asylum claim. To do this, we developed a detailed coding scheme to investigate the specific themes and credibility indicators cited in the asylum decisions.ResultsWe found that the asylum claims were most often rejected because the applicant's account of their sexual orientation was not found to be sufficiently detailed, consistent, or plausible. Officials appeared to hold assumptions around sexual identity development and interpersonal relationships that are partially unsupported by established psychological science.ConclusionsAssessments of SOGI claims would benefit from a greater consideration of the factors affecting queer asylum applicants' ability to describe their claims, including cross‐cultural differences in understandings of sexuality, variability in human behaviour, and practical barriers within the asylum procedure.

Implementing a stabilizing intervention for traumatized refugees in temporary accommodations in South-West Germany - a randomized controlled pilot trial.

https://drks.de/search/de/trial/DRKS00022862 Deutsches Register Klinischer Studien identifier, DRKS00022862.

Procedural fairness in automated asylum procedures: Fundamental rights for fundamental challenges

In response to the increasing digitalization of asylum procedures, this paper examines the legal challenges surrounding the use of automated tools in refugee status determination (RSD). Focusing on the European Union (EU) context, where interoperable databases and advanced technologies are employed to streamline asylum processes, the paper asks how EU fundamental rights can address the challenges that automation raises. Through a comprehensive analysis of EU law and several real-life cases, the paper focuses on the relationship between procedural fairness and the use of automated tools to provide evidence in RSD. The paper illustrates what standards apply to automated systems based on a legal doctrinal analysis of EU primary and secondary law and emerging case law from national courts and the CJEU. The article contends that the rights to privacy and data protection enhance procedural fairness in asylum procedures and shows how they can be leveraged for increased protection of asylum seekers and refugees. Moreover, the paper also claims that asylum authorities carry a new pivotal responsibility as the medium between the technologies, asylum seekers and their rights.

The journey of a living statue: Structural violence and a Honduran migrant woman's pathway toward asylum and wellbeing

Approximately half of the world's displaced migrant population are women, yet gender-specific analyses are often lacking. Such analyses are crucial for understanding migrant women's unique experiences and informing policies that address their health and broader needs. This paper integrates the concept of structural violence with person-centered ethnography to examine women's physical and mental health in contexts of displacement and migration. Using the triple trauma framework, we offer a holistic, temporal-spatial analysis of the health experiences and exposures faced by asylum-seeking women across three stages: places of origin, travel, and destination. Through the representative case of Anahi, a Honduran woman who fled to the US with her family in 2019, we identify four key themes: the persistence of structural violence and its constraints on health decisions and outcomes, the losses and suffering associated with women's triple roles, the harms of racism and xenophobia, and the health implications of inadequate information on asylum and immigration procedures. We conclude with policy recommendations to reduce health inequities among migrant women. This study advances understanding by providing a comprehensive, gendered analysis of the structural forces shaping health outcomes for migrant women, offering insights that extend beyond a narrow focus on reproductive issues to address their physical, mental, and social well-being.

Toward effective protection of victims of human trafficking in mixed migration flows: referral mechanisms shaped on individual need. The Italian experience and the European perspective

An overview of emerging trends on trafficking of human beings in Italy shows not only an extremely heterogeneous phenomenon but also a complex overlapping of experiences and need of protection of every single victim. In the context of mixed migration flows, persons reaching Italy through the Central Mediterranean and the Balkan routes have often experienced or are at risk of trafficking, and they also apply for international protection upon arrival. Legal categories such as “victims,” “asylum seekers,” and “refugees” are increasingly interconnected and not exhaustive in describing individual experiences and multifaceted vulnerabilities. Against this background, ensuring early identification and assistance for victims of trafficking among asylum seekers is extremely relevant. In Italy, this has led to the development of good practices aimed at implementing the coordination between the asylum and the anti-trafficking systems. In particular, specific Guidelines for Asylum authorities have been adopted to preliminarily identify potential victims of trafficking within the asylum procedure and enable their effective access to protection measures. To comply with specific provisions of the European Trafficking Directive and its transposition into the Italian legal framework, the Guidelines have created a referral mechanism among the asylum authorities and the anti-trafficking system that is unique in the European context. For this reason, the present contribution aims at describing this good practice, its implementation and effects—also at the juridical level—and its limits. Indeed, after the adoption of the instrument, a higher recognition rate of international protection for victims of trafficking has been registered in Italy, both at the administrative and judicial levels; asylum seekers and refugees have also increased their access to the specific protection program for trafficking survivors. In general, the system has strengthened its capacity to fulfill the legal obligation of identifying victims through a multi-agency approach. On the other hand, the ability to conduct screening and preliminary identification of victims of trafficking among asylum seekers is still limited to the “victim model” in terms of gender (women) and form of exploitation (sexual), and to certain stages of the asylum procedure (the first instance before the asylum authorities). With reference to this latter, a comprehensive protection response at the borders is missing despite the political debate on sea and land arrivals to Italy and the recent introduction of border procedures for the assessment of asylum applications. Given the geographical and political centrality of the south-Mediterranean situation in the current migration agenda, the goal of this paper is to analyze the Italian experience on referral mechanisms among trafficking and asylum as an experience that would help to shape future European prospects. The ongoing evolution of mixed migration flows—with particular reference to secondary movement across European countries—and the revised European Directive on trafficking in persons impose the promotion of a reflection on referral mechanisms with a transnational perspective enabling effective protection and the meeting of specific human rights.

Impact of the asylum determination process on mental health in the UK and EU+: a systematic review and thematic synthesis

IntroductionPeople seeking asylum are at increased risk of mental health difficulties due to premigration and postmigration experiences. The objective of this review was to understand how asylum determination process in...

Fair and efficient asylum procedures and artificial intelligence: Quo Vadis due process?

Fair and efficient asylum procedures and artificial intelligence: Quo Vadis due process?

Contested and unheard voices within the asylum framework – participation challenges of unaccompanied minors in Germany and Norway

ABSTRACT The construction of unaccompanied minor asylum seekers (UMAs) as a vulnerable group places UMAs into a social category that the welfare state is required to deal with. In general, welfare states have the choice of addressing UMAs’ needs, either under the scope of the asylum system combined with special provisions, or to place them on a separate track and thus exclude them from ordinary migration framework. This article takes a comparative analysis of the Norwegian (migration track) and German (separate track) asylum and welfare system on how the regulations available for UMAs intersect and how these procedures shape the lived experiences of UMAs and their options for participation in their decisions on their asylum cases, as well as in their everyday lives. When discussing three characteristics of UMA status (their position as protection seeker, as under age, as unaccompanied), we will especially focus on participation rights in how regulations regarding the age assessment, asylum procedure, residence status, legal representation and welfare provisions are applied in practice. To this end, we will highlight experiences of UMA gathered through interviews in Norway and Germany.

Az idegenrendészeti és menekültügyi jogszabályok változásának hatásai a Csongrád megyét érintő illegális migrációra

The author provides an overview of how recent changes in the alien policing and asylum procedures shaped anti-illegal-immigration operations in one of the most affected Hungarian regions.

The Complex Landscape of Asylum Border Procedures in the new Asylum Procedures Regulation

The Complex Landscape of Asylum Border Procedures in the new Asylum Procedures Regulation

Torture Survivors in Asylum – Ignoring the Obvious

ABSTRACT Torture is prohibited at all times and in all circumstances and states shall not return asylum seekers to their country of origin if there is any substantial risk of persecution upon return. The future risk of torture is therefore a central element in any asylum assessment. This notwithstanding, the torture experience of asylum seekers is seldom addressed during the asylum interview, hardly ever documented and rarely given particular consideration during the asylum assessment. Torture survivors seeking asylum are therefore in a paradoxical situation, on the one hand universally acknowledged to be highly vulnerable and potentially worthy of protection and medical rehabilitation, and on the other hand having their torture experiences under-communicated and ignored. Based on research into the Norwegian immigration authorities, I will explore how ignorance is produced and maintained in everyday interaction with asylum seekers through the theoretical lens of ignorance. I argue that, during the Norwegian asylum procedure, the current paradox of hyper-visibility versus failure to acknowledge the torture experience is caused by the street-level bureaucrats’ inability to give consequence to and make bureaucratic and procedural sense of the torture experience. This inability is owing to a number of individual and structural forms of ignorance that range from bureaucratic obfuscation and rearrangement of the knowledge – ignorance assemblages, the strategic ignoring of facts, to a lack of knowledge and competency and, as such, an inability to know. However, rather than concluding that immigration bureaucracies produce indifferent street-level bureaucrats, I document the many attempts to care and to do better that do as an integral part of the ignorance that permeates the asylum system.

‘Europe was a dream for me. This dream came true but remains unfulfilled at the same time’: Navigating life aspirations among forced migrants in Austria and Italy

Abstract In this article, we analyse the interplay between forced migrants’ retrospective expectations and their current experiences in the host country, and how this interaction informs their aspirations in relation to their potential life trajectories. By zooming in on the Austrian and Italian cases derived from qualitative data, this article investigates forced migrants’ retrospective perspectives on the ‘good life’ in (imagined) Europe and their experienced-informed perspectives of the host country context—reception policies—after migration by tracing individuals’ self-reported perceptions of life aspirations over the course of their migration journey. By applying the aspirations-capability framework, our analysis traces what ‘happens’ after people have submitted their asylum applications. In this way, this research sheds light on the process of adapting to a new context with gravely restricted capabilities and how this affects people’s life aspirations. By doing so, we demonstrate that aspirations are not only dynamic and flexible, but capabilities also change due to the structural confines of national asylum procedures. This study therefore brings an innovative perspective to study life aspirations and capabilities by showing the importance of reflecting not only aspirations but also the (in)capability of acting in the present which informs the process of revisiting original life aspirations for individuals seeking asylum. This process begins after the arrival, based on changes in their capabilities, specifically the national asylum structures that confine them.

A Normative View from the Periphery: Serbia and the EU Asylum Acquis

Abstract Since 2014, as part of the EU accession negotiations, Serbia is meticulously conducting legal, policy, and institutional reforms in order to align its asylum and migration law and policy with the EU acquis. At the same time, as a consequence of the European policies put in place since 2015 (fences, large-scale pushbacks), Serbia faces a high risk of becoming a buffer zone in between EU Member States Greece and Bulgaria (whence many refugees enter Serbia) and Croatia and Hungary (which many refugees seek to enter). While aiming to implement EU law as a candidate Member State, Serbia is simultaneously trying to avoid stronger migration pressure and becoming a hotspot which are the consequence of implementing the EU acquis. Caught between these two conflicting policy aims, Serbia is following the example of Greece in limiting migration pressure by keeping its asylum system dysfunctional, ignoring refugee needs and undermining refugee protection. The substandard character of the Serbian asylum system in practice (both when it comes to its slow and inefficient asylum procedure, limited access to legal aid and information, as well as when it comes to an unsustainable and dysfunctional reception and integration system) makes returns to Serbia a violation of European Human Rights law (i.a., ECtHR 21 November 2019, Ilias and Ahmed v Hungary, application no. 47287/15), while it also gives migrants and refugees a strong incentive to move on to the EU. This combination of formally adopting, but not implementing, the EU acquis will be analysed as a normative response to the perceived lack of legitimacy of the EU acquis, which uses the weak position of peripheral Member States like Greece and neighbouring countries like Serbia to impose a disproportionate burden on them.

Affects of Objectivity: Decision-Making Practices in the Dutch Asylum Procedure

This article explores the pursuit of objectivity in the Dutch asylum procedure, where asymmetrical forms of intimacy and techniques of suspicion are used to gather sensitive information from asylum applicants and evaluate their case files. Firstly, I examine the procedural design and how objectivity is pursued in producing distance, detachment, and the rotation of several Immigration and Naturalization Department (IND) officers in and out of applications. Secondly, I focus on the authority granted to a specific kind of trained IND subjectivity, well-versed in a critical and intuitive reading of the ever-suspected asylum applicant. By analysing the entanglement of objectivity and subjectivity, this study contributes to existing scholarship on the interplay between emotions and legal judgment, as well as to scholarship on borders and bureaucratic practices within contexts of heightened control and securitization. By doing so I challenge the notion of ‘emotion management’ as a means to enhance objectivity, arguing that pursuing objectivity in these state practices is not merely managed affective work; more crucially, it privileges affects of suspicion.

The Poor Integration Results of the Common European Asylum System Compared to the Temporary Protection Directive: The Case of the Netherlands

AbstractTaking the case of the Netherlands, we compare integration outcomes of the traditional asylum reception system (implementing the Refugee Convention), applied to, for example, Syrians and Afghans, and the EU’s Temporary Protection Directive (TPD) which is applied to Ukrainians. We show that the TPD is not just less costly for receiving countries but also results in much faster labor market integration. While rapid integration is an important policy goal, the traditional asylum system is not effective, and talents are underutilized. We show how spatial and temporal aspects of the asylum procedures for Common European Asylum System (CEAS) refugees lead to slow integration, while Ukrainians under TPD work immediately and can build connections in Dutch society.

Does timing matter? Language course participation and language outcomes amongst new immigrants

Host country language acquisition is widely considered an important factor to prevent the social and economic exclusion of immigrants. High-income countries invest considerably in language courses for new immigrants, yet hitherto our understanding of when participation in such courses seems to stimulate language acquisition remains limited. As a result, this article addresses whether the timing of language course enrolment is related to course outcomes in terms of credentialed language proficiency. This study benefits from longitudinal population data including all new migrants entering Flanders (Belgium) in 2009–2021, to assess whether associations between language course timing and outcomes persist, for different legal categories of immigrants, when controlling for compositional factors. Findings indicate that for most immigrant categories, negative associations between course postponement and host country language attainment are explained by migration background and human capital. However, amongst family and humanitarian migrants, a negative association between course timing and outcomes persists. This persistent negative linkage suggests a stronger vulnerability to less effective (informal) learning trajectories and downward spiralling opportunities and motivation in the case of language course postponement, but also highlights the need for future research using causal estimation strategies. As such, research on language course timing and outcomes contributes to the literature highlighting that timing – e.g. regarding asylum procedures, housing, but also language programmes – matters in immigrants’ trajectories of integration in host countries.

Confining by Choking Refugees’ Lifetime

ABSTRACT This article argues that refugees’ confinement is enforced through a combination of spatial tactics which restrict mobility and modes of governing by choking lifetime. Focusing on the Greek context, it contends that asylum seekers are entrapped in a sort of (in)dependency conundrum: they are expected to be self-reliant, and they are blamed for being pampered, but they are simultaneously disrupted insofar as they do autonomous social reproduction activities and build autonomous spaces of liveability. The piece starts by exploring the nexus between asylum procedure, carceral mechanisms and politics of confinement: it highlights that people who seek asylum in Greece are at risk of being detained or being declared inadmissible to the asylum procedure. It moves on to investigate the (in)dependency conundrum, taking into account the ways in which refugees choked: it shows that asylum seekers are deprived both of socio-economic independence and of humanitarian-financial support. It suggests that to be withheld is also their future and that this should be conceived as a form of injury and debilitation. The final section illustrates how asylum seekers stranded in camps have organised collective struggles to protest the suspension of food and financial support, and to claim right to education and to access to public transport. By starting from precise demands, refugees have articulated expansive claims that exceed minimalistic biopolitics.

Constructive Refoulement as Disguised Voluntary Return: The Internalised Externalisation of Migrants

This paper purports to extend the concept of constructive refoulement in the context of externalised migration policies. This concept has been recognised in jurisprudence at the domestic, regional and international levels, and has developed through State practice as well as the practice of regional and international organisations. In the externalisation of migration policies, constructive refoulement becomes evident in both visible and invisible prisons: the United States-Mexico partnership in the Southern Border Programme creates a situation where asylum seekers eventually abandon the hope of continuing their asylum procedures and reluctantly return to other places. The Australian offshore asylum processing system, which has been remodelled by the UK, adopts the kyriarchical system where asylum seekers themselves control their self-return to their country of origin as a result of a combined situation of severe discipline and hatred between officials and inmates as well as between the inmates themselves. Meanwhile, the EU’s Reception Conditions Directive scheme incorporates migrants in a planned destitution scenario where they are forced to choose to leave Europe due to poor socio-economic conditions. The Japanese combination of karihomen and kanrisochi also creates a planned destitute environment which compels asylum seekers themselves to seek their return by depriving them of their basic needs. Such governmentality of internalising externalisation by the Global North must be critically assessed in terms of the developing concept of constructive refoulement implied under international refugee and human rights law.