Reforming the Common European Asylum System — Legislative developments and judicial activism of the European Courts


Book Description

In June 2013, after lengthy and complex negotiations the EU adopted the recast “asylum package” which represents a significant step forward in the future development of CEAS. In this timely study Velluti provides fresh insights into recent legislative and judicial developments in asylum and through the “lens” of sovereignty she looks at some of the contemporary challenges faced by the EU protection regime, with a particular focus on asylum-seekers’ rights. The volume assesses whether the EU provides an adequate framework for protecting those seeking international protection from the opposing perspectives of effectiveness and fairness. It shows that, despite the newly adopted “second-generation” legislative acts which include changes aimed at ensuring a stronger level of protection for asylum-seekers, the reform process at European level does not adequately ensure an equal standard of protection across all Member States. Through a comparative analysis of selected ECtHR and ECJ asylum cases the book also examines the constitutional relationship between the two European Courts and how it impacts on the human rights of asylum-seekers and on the future of EU asylum law. Ultimately, the book shows that real progress in the development of the human rights dimension of CEAS will be achieved largely through the European and domestic courts.




Reforming the Common European Asylum System


Book Description

This book, edited by Vincent Chetail, Philippe De Bruycker and Francesco Maiani, is aimed at analysing the recent changes of the Common European Asylum System, the progress achieved and the remaining flaws. The overall objective and key added value of this volume are to provide a comprehensive and critical account of the recast instruments governing asylum law and policy in the European Union. This book is the outcome of the 7th Congress of the Academic Network for Legal Studies on Immigration and Asylum in Europe held in Brussels in 2014. Contributors are: Hemme Battjes, Céline Bauloz, Ulrike Brandl, Vincent Chetail, Cathryn Costello, Philippe De Bruycker, Madeline Garlick, Elspeth Guild, Emily Hancox, Lyra Jakuleviciene, Francesco Maiani, Barbara Mikołajczyk, Géraldine Ruiz, Evangelia (Lilian) Tsourdi, Patricia Van De Peer and Jens Vedsted-Hansen.




Assessing the Common European Asylum System


Book Description

How much discretion do bureaucrats have when deciding who gets refugee status? Where does the boundary between law and practice lie when it comes to asylum in the European Union? In this book, you will find answers to these questions in an exploration of the decision-making context in which policy implementors conduct their work and turn policies into practice. Drawing from the insights of street-level bureaucracy and role-conflict theory, a better understanding is given of how decisions are made by policy implementers in situations of incomplete information or ambiguous policy vision and guidance.




Fundamental Rights in the EU


Book Description

This collection joins the new and expanding scholarship on the protection of fundamental rights in Europe and reflects on the relationship between the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The book questions whether the changes introduced by the Lisbon Treaty align the CJEU to the ECtHR's interpretation and methods, triggering different processes of institutionalisation within a coherent European system. These issues are explored through a contextual analysis of areas of law such as equality rights in employment law, citizenship and migration, internet law and access to justice. This volume includes perspectives from the scholarly community as well as practitioners, judges and European policy makers. It also examines the state of accession of the EU to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and considers the legal implications of the interactions of the two courts for the protection of the fundamental rights of EU citizens and individuals legally residing in Europe. The volume is essential reading for practitioners, judges, European policy makers and members of the scholarly community working in this area of law.




Seeking Asylum in the European Union


Book Description

Seeking asylum in the European Union (EU) today is as complex as the EU asylum system itself: the different forms of protection that exist do not remain easily accessible and are sometimes not tailored to the specific protection needs of asylum-seekers. The aim of this volume is to provide critical analyses of selected problems that scholars and policy-makers will have to address in the ‘second phase’ of the Common European Asylum System. A broad range of issues are examined relating to access to and qualification for international protection and the further problems raised by this amended set of asylum instruments which continue to impede asylum-seekers from benefiting from effective protection in EU Member States. With a foreword by Professor Hélène Lambert.




Fundamental Rights and Mutual Trust in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice


Book Description

This book explores the relationship of mutual trust and fundamental rights in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ) of the European Union and asks whether there is any role for proportionality. Mutual trust among Member States has long been presumed by the Court in a manner that mutual recognition was prioritised in regard to, but to the detriment of, the protection of fundamental rights. After thoroughly reviewing this relationship, this book offers a comprehensive framework of proportionality and explores its impact on the protection of fundamental rights in a mutual trust environment. It applies a theoretical and a normative framework of proportionality to two case studies (EU criminal and asylum law) by reference to several fundamental rights, enabling a carefully constructed analysis with useful parallels. The book argues that such analysis, based on proportionality, is not always desirable and helpful for the protection of fundamental rights in this area and thoroughly explores its impact on the protection of fundamental rights vis-à-vis mutual trust.




New Europe - Old Values?


Book Description

This book explores the reactions to Europeanization and globalization in times of economic distress, including the transformation of European values in national legal cultures. The authors explore how European values, tradition and new legal challenges interconnect and dictate the paths of transition between old and new Europe. The first chapter starts with a question: can Roman Legal Tradition play a role of identity factor towards a New Europe? Can it be considered as a general value identifying new Europe, built on a minimum core of principles – persona, dominum, obligation, contract and inheritance – composing the whole European private law tradition? Subsequent chapters attempt to provide possible responses to the question: what is Europe today? The answers diverge, depending on the research area. The inherent dichotomy of human rights protection in Europe and the concept of ‘one law, one court’ are investigated in the second chapter, whereas the third chapter focuses on asylum and the interrelation and interdependence of the Court of Justice of the EU and the European Court of Human Rights. The next three chapters concentrate on matters of equal treatment and non-discrimination. The first contribution in this part reflects on the crisis and methodological and conceptual issues faced by modern anti-discrimination law. It is followed by a specific analysis of the empowerment of women or gender-balancing in company boards. The third contribution reveals the impact of the Croatian anti-discrimination law on private law relations. The next chapter deals with the issue of social rights in Croatia and the method of their regulation in the context of the new European values. The immense challenges posed by the market integration imperative and democratic transition have brought about different reactions in the national legal systems and legal cultures of both old and new Member States. As such, Europe has effectively been reunited, but what about the convergence of national legal cultures? This is the focal point of the remaining chapters, which focus on various issues, from internal market, competition law, consumer welfare, liberalization of network industries to the EU capital market. The magnitude of EU activity in these areas offers conclusive evidence that old and new paradigms are evolving and shaping the future of the EU.




On Brexit


Book Description

Timely and engaging, this topical book examines how Brexit is intertwined with the concepts of justice and injustice. Legal scholars across a range of subjects and disciplines utilise a multitude of case studies from consumer law, asylum law, legal theory, public law and private law, in order to explore the impact of Brexit on our ideas of justice. The book as a whole aims to engage with the methodology, lexicon and explicitness of analytical perspectives in relation to Brexit.




The Evolving Psyche of Law in Europe


Book Description

The book applies an interdisciplinary analytical framework, based on social psychology theories of inclusion and exclusion, to a discussion of legal discourse and the development of legal frameworks in Europe concerning migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, and European citizens. It adopts a psycho-historical perspective to discuss the evolution of international and European law with regard to the rights of citizens and asylum-seeking non-citizens, from the law’s inception following the Second World War up to present-day laws and policies. The book reveals the embracing of a European identity based on human rights as the common feature in European treaties and institutions, one that is focused on European citizens and has inclusionary objectives. However, a cognitive dissonance can also be found, as this common identity-making runs counter to national proclivities, as well as securitized, threat-perception-oriented perspectives that can produce exclusionary manifestations concerning persons seeking asylum. In particular, a view of inclusion and exclusion via legal categorizations of status, as well as distributions of social and economic rights, draws attention to the links between social psychology and international law. What emerges in the analysis: a process of creating value is present both at its psychological roots and the expressions of value in the law. Fundamentally speaking, the emergence of laws and policies that center on human beings and human dignity, when understood from a psychological and emotion-based perspective, has the potential to transcend the dissonances identified.




The Refugee in International Law


Book Description

The status of the refugee in international law, and of everyone entitled to protection, has ever been precarious, not least in times of heightened and heated debate: people have always moved in search of safety, and they always will. In this completely revised and updated edition, the authors cast new light on the refugee definition, the meaning of persecution, including with regard to gender and sexual orientation, and the protection due to refugees and those affected by statelessness or disasters. They review the fundamental principle of non-refoulement as a restraint on the conduct of States, even as States themselves seek new ways to prevent the arrival of those in search of refuge. Related principles of protection—non-discrimination, due process, rescue at sea, and solutions— are analysed in light of the actual practice of States, UNHCR, and treaty-monitoring bodies. The authors closely examine relevant international standards, and the role of UNHCR, States, and civil society, in providing protection, contributing to the development of international refugee law, and promoting solutions. New chapters focus on the evolving rules on nationality, statelessness, and displacement due to disasters and climate change. This expanded edition factors in the challenges posed by the movement of people across land and sea in search of refuge, and their interception, reception, and later treatment. The overall aim remains the same as in previous editions: to provide a sound basis for protection in international law, taking full account of State and community interests and recognizing the need to bridge gaps in the regime which now has 100 years of law and practice behind it.