Asylum Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Seminario di avvio del "Progetto per la ricostruzione e la pubblica riproposta dei processi di autoriforma e superamento dell’istituto manicomiale nella Provincia di Perugia (1960-1980)". Contiene una lezione magistrale di Ferruccio Giacanelli sul grande movimento rivoluzionario che portò la psichiatria a “cambiare”. Presenti al seminario tanti studiosi, antropologi, psichiatri, primo tra tutti Tullio Seppilli, allora presidente della Fondazione Angelo Celli. Attraverso una riflessione critica vengono delineati i principali caratteri di trasformazione della psichiatria italiana fino alle specificità del movimento psichiatrico umbro di autoriforma.

- by sabrina flamini
- •
- Asylum, Storia della psichiatria e psicologia sociale

Jacques Derrida nos convida a refletir sobre a Universidade Incondicional que não existe, mas pode ser inventada como um lugar de resistência e crítica, com a capacidade desafiadora de transformar questões apropriadas por saberes dogmáticos e se opor a um grande número de poderes que limitam o horizonte democrático.
Essa universidade heterogênea e frágil, independente e perturbadora, em permanente desconstrução e renascimento, só poderá ser engendrada se contar com aqueles que professam a condição instável de não se conformar, e de resistir cotidianamente aos poderes que a sitiam.
Derrida explora os fundamentos da universidade incondicional na busca da verdade não acabada, que está por vir e seu valor, referindo-se ao direito primordial de dizer tudo, publicamente, de publicar, ainda que seja sob a forma de ficção ou experimentação.
A universidade incondicional se constitui por trabalhos que gestam acontecimentos, zombam do performativo dogmático, reverberam, desconstroem e abrem espaços para o debate, para a dúvida, a dissidência, muito além do saber e saber fazer, lançando-se no campo do que está por definir.
Orientada por esses compromissos e munida desses instrumentos, a universidade tem obstáculos a enfrentar entre eles a soberania e seus avatares: “A desconstrução do conceito de soberania incondicional é sem dúvida necessária e está em curso, pois trata-se de uma herança de uma teologia que mal acabou de ser secularizada.”(DERRIDA, 2003, p. 22).
O fio condutor da desconstrução da soberania, segundo Derrida, atravessa “performativos jurídicos”, ou “produções performativas do direito (direito do homem, conceito do crime contra a humanidade)” para substituí-los pela invenção, o dom, o perdão, a hospitalidade a justiça, a amizade (DERRIDA, 2003, p. 73). Derrida afirma que esses “motivos” estão no centro de suas publicações e seminários dos últimos quinze anos de sua jornada filosófica. (DERRIDA, 2003, p. 78).
O dom, a amizade, o perdão, a justiça e a hospitalidade põem em questão o humano, o homem, a humanidade, o humanismo. A hospitalidade sem limitações vem orientada pela ideia que o humano que chega é diferente do outro que o recebe em sua terra. É estranho, estrangeiro, mas mesmo assim humano, que espera a hospitalidade incondicional e se depara com a hospitalidade condicionada, obturada pelo performativo jurídico do direito humanitário, do direito internacional, seus conceitos e instrumentos jurídicos e burocráticos dos Estados.

- by Gabriel G U A L A N O de Godoy
- •
- Philosophy Of Law, Asylum, Hospitality, Refugees
- by Lenart Škof and +1
- •
- Migration, Risk and Vulnerability, Asylum, International Migration

States have increasingly moved away from refugee protection, intensifying the vulnerability of refugees and asylum-seekers. Drawing on theories of norm dynamics within International Relations (IR), this article argues that departures from refugee protection can be partly explained by the weakness of the normative principles governing the treatment of individuals fleeing persecution. Ambiguities, diverging interpretations, and varying levels of codification complicate efforts to hold states accountable to a complex bundle of human rights standards surrounding refugee and asylum protection. These weaknesses in the international refugee regime bolster norm-evading behavior wherein governments deliberately minimize their obligations while claiming technical compliance. Drawing on an analysis of US refugee and asylum policies under the Trump administration, the article reveals how norm evasion and accountability challenges emerge in the context of ambiguous standards vis-à-vis non-refoulement, non-detention, non-penalization, non-discrimination, and refugee responsibility-sharing. In response to global forced displacement-including an estimated 25 million refugees-governments have increasingly closed borders, detained and repatriated asylum-seekers against their will, developed 'deterrence' and 'repulsion' techniques to prevent asylum-seekers from reaching their territories, and engaged in other practices undermining human rights principles regarding the treatment of individuals fleeing persecution and conflict. 1 The denial of entry by European ports to asylum-seekers-including sick children-stranded for weeks in the Mediterranean, the deaths of children detained along the US southern border, and drastic cuts to third-country refugee resettlement prompt challenging questions about the status of the international refugee and asylum regime. 2 Given the barrage of state practices contravening human rights principles governing the treatment of refugees and asylum-seekers, it is reasonable to question whether refugee protection norms are in crisis.

- by Alise Coen
- •
- International Relations, Human Rights Law, International Law, Human Rights
- by Nassim Majidi
- •
- Migration, Afghanistan, Asylum, Migration Studies

This chapter explores patterns of success and failure of anti-deportation protests. Based on 15 qualitative case studies from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, the authors identify four relevant mechanisms that may explain successful protest outcomes: public preferences with regard to the issue of asylum and deportation, political access to decision-making authorities, judicial means, and disruption by protest actors and/or people to be deported. These mechanisms do not exist exogenously, but need to be activated. All of them involve different degrees of risk and unintended consequences. To what degree they can be successfully activated also depends on the context of the case and reflects political opportunity structures. Furthermore, the reconstruction of the cases initially understood as unsuccessful has led the authors to problematize the criterion of success. They therefore propose a chronological perspective for the evaluation of success that goes beyond the specific deportation event and highlights the role of support that is continued in the post-deportation phase and often leads to the person’s return to the country from which he or she has been deported.

- by Verena Stern and +1
- •
- Asylum, Protest, Protest Movements, Deportation

Resumen: En este trabajo se analiza la existencia de un derecho a solicitar asilo tanto en el territorio del Estado como en frontera. Para ello se toman en consideración la normativa internacional sobre la materia, y la normativa de la Unión Europea, concretamente la Carta de Derechos Fundamentales de la Unión Europea y la Directiva de Procedimiento. El objetivo es determinar si Hungría mediante el rechazo en frontera de los refugiados, así como mediante la imposición de sanciones penales por el cruce ilegal, según la normativa húngara, de frontera, vendría a estar violando dicho de derecho a solicitar asilo. La confirmación de dicha violación, junto con la posible confirmación de las violaciones relativas a los procedimientos de asilo señaladas por la Comisión Europea en la carta de emplazamiento enviada a Hungría en 2015, planteamos podría permitir considerar a Hungría como país " no seguro " siendo de aplicación el artículo 3.2 del Reglamento de Dublín. Summary: This paper analyzes the existence of a right to seek asylum both, in the territory of the State and in the border of the State. For this purpose the international regulations on the matter, and the regulations of the European Union (namely the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the Directive of Procedure) are taken into consideration. The aim is to determine whether Hungary through the border rejection of refugees, as well as by imposing criminal penalties for the illegal crossing, according to the Hungarian legislation, would violate the right to seek asylum. The confirmation of such a violation, along with the possible confirmation of violations concerning asylum procedures outlined by the European Commission in the letter of formal notice sent to Hungary in 2015, could allow considering Hungary as a " non-safe " country and applying article 3.2 of the Dublin Regulation.

- by Liza Schuster and +1
- •
- Asylum, Asylum seekers, Asylum and refugees studies, migration and integration

In summary, our research shows that US Border Patrol agents and other CBP officers abuse migrants, physically and verbally, with significant frequency. In addition, many resent immigrants in general, and display racism toward Mexicans and other Latin Americans, as well as prejudice on the basis of sexual orientation. This suggests that the proposal to make Border Patrol agents asylum officers could lead to imbalanced and adversarial decision-makers, the opposite of what is called for in law. There was a widespread tone of anger and little restraint in the use of cursing and yelling. We found that Border Patrol threats of physical abuse — such as killing, shooting, and abandonment in the desert — were common, which raises concern over the safety and the handling of traumatized people in an asylum context. Finally, there were numerous threats to use law as a form of punishment, which indicates a problematic attitude among persons that might be tasked with gathering information and making legal decisions.

- by Josiah Heyman and +2
- •
- Border Studies, Immigration, Immigration Studies, Asylum Law

Starting from the analysis of data on asylum applications between 2011 and 2017, this article seeks to identify the actors and processes that influenced the implementation of Italian asylum policy, and rates of success of asylum applications, during the refugee crisis. The article contends that the outcome of applications was determined by a complex interplay of external and internal-level variables: the evolution of the crisis and EU policies of crisis management in the former case; the approaches of governmental actors and the role of ‘street-level bureaucrats’, in the latter. Data derived from official documents, from EUROSTAT, from the UNHCR and from the Italian Ministry of the Interior were supplemented by interviews with Italian and EASO officials on the ground.

- by Iole Fontana
- •
- Migration, Asylum, Italy, Common European Asylum System
- by Floride Mahieu
- •
- Psychiatry, Pharmacy, Asylum, XIXe siècle
- by Nawal Ammar
- •
- Asylum, PTSD, Impunity, Battered Women
- by Sara McKinnon
- •
- Law, Rhetoric, Asylum, Gender Discourse
- by Sonja Wolf
- •
- Migration, Asylum, Europe, US-Mexico border

Against a backdrop of rising unemployment and increased deprivation, this FRA Annual report closely examines the situation of those, such as children, who are vulnerable to budget cuts, impacting important fields such as education, healthcare and social services. It looks at the discrimination that Roma continue to face and the mainstreaming of elements of extremist ideology in political and public discourse. It considers the impact the crises have had on the basic principle of the rule of law, as well as stepped up EU Member State efforts to ensure trust in justice systems.

- by EU Fundamental Rights Agency
- •
- Information Society, Access to Justice, Migration, Asylum

The purpose of this retrospective, learning-focused evaluation is to assess Asylum Access’s progress against its national-level theory of change to document its successes, understand its strategies that are working well, and identify... more

The purpose of this retrospective, learning-focused evaluation is to assess Asylum Access’s progress
against its national-level theory of change to document its successes, understand its strategies that are
working well, and identify opportunities for improvement that will help it increase its effectiveness.

- by Lourdes Camacho Zambrano
- •
- Asylum

Der 'III. Weg' ist eine elitäre und straff organisierte Neonazi-Vereinigung, die 2013 gegründet wurde.

- by Alexander Lingk
- •
- Racial and Ethnic Politics, Refugee Studies, Migration, Antisemitism (Prejudice)

(Special Issue editorial)
Erving Goffman’s “Asylums” is a key text in the development of contemporary, community-orientated mental health practice. It has survived as a trenchant critique of the asylum as total institution, and its publication in 1961 in book form marked a further stage in the discrediting of the asylum model of mental health care. In this paper, some responses from a range of disciplines to this text, 50 years on, are presented. A consultant psychiatrist with a special interest in cultural psychiatry and mental health legislation, two collaborating psychotherapists in adult and forensic mental health, a philosopher, and a recent medical graduate, present their varying responses to the text. The editors present these with the hope of encouraging further dialogue and debate from service users, carers, clinicians, and academics and researchers across a range of disciplines.

- by John Adlam and +1
- •
- Critical Theory, Homelessness, Asylum, Social Exclusion

The situation in Europe in 2015 and 2016 has raised many questions about state responses to what has been called “the refugee crisis”, and how these responses correspond with claims of upholding respect for the principle of asylum, and of refugee and migration policies being humanitarian and fair. Refugee policy is influenced by a number of different factors, including a state’s legal obligations, economic situation, political ideology and public opinion. This paper gives an overview of relevant legislation
in the field, and of events and developments in migration and asylum policy in 2015 and early 2016.
I discuss whether a state’s self-image, and the image it wishes to present, has any impact on policy in extraordinary situations such as the one unfolding in Europe over the last eighteen months. It is argued
that the self-image can indeed have some impact, in particular on the way increasingly restrictive measures are presented and explained, however, it is also held that regardless of a state’s self-image
or good intentions, a humanitarian asylum policy which upholds respect for human rights, and the principle of asylum in particular, only seems possible when not actually put to the test.

- by Rebecca Stern
- •
- Asylum Law, Migration Law, Asylum, European Immigration and Asylum Law

Mit Entsetzen, wenn auch nicht mit Überraschung, habe ich am Mittwoch das „ZiB 2"-Interview mit Österreichs Außenminister Alexander Schallenberg anlässlich des Brandes im Flüchtlingscamp Moria angesehen. „Wenn es Bedarf an Decken und Zelten gibt, wird Österreich natürlich helfen“ Obwohl immer mehr Städte, Gemeinden und Bundesländer in Österreich wie in Deutschland anbieten Menschen auf der Flucht aufzunehmen, stellt er sich gegen jegliche Forderung nach Aufnahme dieser Menschen. Seine Begründung: Man müsse in der Sache vernünftig bleiben statt emotional zu reagieren. Die Frage ist jedoch: Von welcher Vernunft sprechen wir hier?

- by niki kubaczek
- •
- Critical Theory, Sociology, Political Sociology, Political Philosophy

Una città che nasce dalla mescolanza. Un amalgama di elementi etnici eterogenei, un aggregato di culture diverse. L’Asilo aperto a tutti, persino a schiavi e a fuggitivi, sulla cima del Campidoglio divenne per i romani non solo... more

Una città che nasce dalla mescolanza. Un amalgama
di elementi etnici eterogenei, un aggregato di culture
diverse. L’Asilo aperto a tutti, persino a schiavi e a fuggitivi,
sulla cima del Campidoglio divenne per i romani
non solo un’immagine simbolo della propria identità,
ma il motivo ispiratore della loro politica internazionale.

- by Gianluca De Sanctis
- •
- Roman History, Asylum, Anthropology of the Ancient World, Roman Myth

The chapter aims at exploring the European Court of Justice (ECJ) case-law concerning the relationship between the Dublin system and the solidarity principle enshrined in Article 80 of the TFEU. Starting from a legal analysis of Article 80, attention is paid to some decisions (e.g. N.S., X. and X., A.S. and Jafari, the “relocation” case), in which the ECJ has followed a cautious approach. Notably, it held, on the one hand, that responsibility criteria of the Dublin system cannot be derogated for solidarity reasons (even by way of interpretation or in the case of massive inflows of asylum seekers); on the other hand, that solidarity has to be implemented in legislative acts in order to fully reach its goals, being understood that a breach of such acts by some “reluctant” Member States is, first of all, a violation of the principle of loyalty provided for in Article 4(3) TEU.

- by Giuseppe Morgese
- •
- Refugee Studies, Asylum Law, Migration, Asylum
- by Jacques Picard
- •
- Political Science, Asylum, Second World War, Modern Jewish History

In recent years, British refugee organisations have built up a substantial body of evidence that the United Kingdom’s procedure for refugee status determination (RSD) suffers from a ‘culture of disbelief’ which has led to the unjust refusal of many asylum claims. In this article, I draw on the sociological work of Stanley Cohen to argue that much of the evidence presented by these organisations also indicates the existence of a parallel ‘culture of denial’. This evidence strongly suggests that disbelief is often one manifestation of a deeper pattern of denial, such as when disbelief is the end result of a prior refusal to engage with the facts of the case. The notion of a ‘culture of denial’ also allows for the possibility that some asylum seekers are refused despite the belief that they are entitled to refugee status.

- by James Souter
- •
- Sociology, Human Rights, Refugee Studies, Asylum

［English abstract］Since the establishment of the PRC in 1949, film and television was the domain of the state. But the first documentary made by an individual appeared in 1990. From this unexpected starting point, an independent cinema based on low-budget, low-technology production took root. It quickly expanded into an alternative production and distribution sphere with the introduction of digital technologies in the 2000s. It then came to constitute a cohesive community of producers and viewers, alongside similar groups in contemporary art and philosophy. This paper proposes the framework of "Cultural Asylum" to understand the dynamics of non-official cultural production in societies in China. Rejecting stark binaries like dominance and resistance, I explore the ways in which independent documentary conducts a serial collaboration with various entities in official sectors. This effectively creates a relatively safe "invisible fortress" for experimental, creative work. (Article written in Japanese)
［Japanese abstract］本論は、1990年に誕生した中国インディペンデント・ドキュメンタリーの歴史を、誕生当初からの参与観察に基づき、「カルチュラル・アサイラム」という新しい概念を用い論じるものである。
歴史学や社会学は、寺社や市、病院や刑務所など、権力の統治法則から相対的な自立/自律性を有している空間を「アジール」「アサイラム」という概念を用いて分析してきた。筆者はこれを参照し、現代中国に断続的に発生する複数の文化･芸術のホットスポット―中国インディペンデント･ドキュメンタリーもその一つである―を、支配層の支持あるいは黙許によって、一時的かつ相対的な創造的自由を獲得した非公的文化生成空間＝「カルチュラル･アサイラム」ととらえる新しい枠組みを提起し、中国インディペンデント・ドキュメンタリーを、脱全体主義国家における文化生成のダイナミズムを示す有力な事例として論じている。

- by Tamako Akiyama
- •
- Cultural Studies, Film Studies, Documentary (Film Studies), Discourse
- by Verena Stern
- •
- Migration, Asylum, Protest Movements, Deportation
- by Patrice G. Poutrus
- •
- Modern History, German Studies, Media Studies, Media and Cultural Studies
- by Sonja Wolf
- •
- Violence, Asylum, El Salvador, Prisons
- by Patrice G. Poutrus
- •
- German History, Contemporary History, Migration, Asylum

The OHB of Refugee and Forced Migration Studies - edited by Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, Gil Loescher, Katy Long and Nando Sigona - has now been published in paperback and is available to purchase with a 30% discount with the code on this... more

- by Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh
- •
- Migration mobilities, Refugee Studies, Asylum Law, Migration

Whereas the Visegrad Group is frequently seen as one unified coalition on the question of migration in the European Union, the intensity with which each country has addressed the issue during the European Migrant crisis, is different and can be explained by many factors like the governing parties’ ideological stance, as well as domestic political dynamics, social perceptions also influenced by the countries’ geographical location. This article analyzes the convergence and divergence points of the V4’s migration policy. It aims to understand the reasons behind the striking difference between Poland and Hungary on the one hand, and Slovakia and the Czech Republic on the other hand when it comes to the migration policy. By doing that, it argues that the V4 migration policy cannot be understood apart from the political and ideological context. Moreover, it highlights that the difference on the ground doesn’t mean the dissolution of the
coalition.
Keywords: European migrant crisis, Migration policy, Visegrád group

- by Baya Amouri
- •
- Asylum Law, Irregular Migration, Asylum, European Immigration and Asylum Law

Introduction to Raccontare il manicomio. La macchina narrativa di Basaglia fra parole e immagini

This article critically assesses the amended European Union asylum detention framework. It traces the tension reflected in the regime between protection provision and administrative imperatives, such as migration management. The research argues that the amended legislation closely frames asylum detention. A coherent regional understanding of " alternatives to asylum detention " also emerges from the legal framework. These elements have the potential to advance protection of forced migrants at global and regional levels. However, European Union asylum law also carries within it the risk of undermining protection. The research explores in this respect the broadly phrased detention grounds and advances an interpretation on the basis of Member States' international and regional (Council of Europe) legal obligations. K E Y W OR D S : asylum detention, EU law, alternatives to detention, detention grounds

- by Lilian Tsourdi
- •
- European Law, Human Rights Law, Human Rights, Asylum Law

Forced migration moves in and out of the public sphere, with political, media, and civil society attention ebbing and flowing across time and space. However, while displacement is increasingly common—“one in every 122 humans is now either a refugee, internally displaced, or seeking asylum” (UNHCR 2015b)—and also increasingly protracted, with over half of the world’s refugees (more than 14 million people) having been displaced for over ten years, the vast majority of contexts of forced migration typically remain invisible in the global North until moments identified as “crises” arise, puncturing and punctuating this invisibility. In the contemporary context, and since the summer of 2015 specifically, European and North American political discourses, media represenations, and civil society campaigns have become saturated with images of certain refugees, in particular those from the Middle East.
The current hypervisibility of Middle Eastern refugees in media and political discourses is, on many levels, understandable given the sheer number of refugees fleeing from diverse, intersecting crises and conflicts across the Middle East and farther afield and also in light of the challenges faced by Northern states and Northern-led organizations attempting to respond to these processes of forced migration. However, hypervisibility is itself regionally governed; it is arguably not the “humanitarian crisis” evolving in the Middle East but rather Europe’s (self-)position(ing) as a space overwhelmed by the arrival of an estimated 1 million refugees in 2015 that is at the core of this process of hypervisibilization in the European public sphere. In contrast, forced migrants across the global South remain invisible precisely because they are of no consequence to Europe. Ultimately, processes of (hyper)visibility have themselves also simultaneously been characterized by the reinscription of diverse forms of invisibility and marginalization.
This article draws on my research with and about refugees from the Middle East and North Africa both to historicize and to contextualize what I refer to as intersecting processes of repressentation and footnoting (following Jacques Derrida) in the study of, and diverse responses to, forced migration (Fiddian- Qasmiyeh 2010, 2014a, 2016a). In particular, I evoke the concept of repressentation to examine the extent to which certain groups of forced migrants and certain identity markers (real, imagined, and imposed), on the one hand, and certain modes of “humanitarian” response to forced migration, on the other, are centralized and heralded while others are concealed from public view for diverse reasons and with different effects. The deconstructive framework underpinning my work as a whole leads me purposefully to centralize what has previously been assigned a peripheral position throughout the ever-expanding “archive of knowledge” (Foucault 1989: 25) vis-à-vis particular refugee situations and simultane- ously to critically interrogate how, why, and with what effect only certain bodies, identity markers, and models of humanitarian response become hypervisible in the public sphere. I start by tracing the roles of visibility and invisibility in constituting the “ideal refugee” (and the concomitant figure of the “a-refugee”), before turning to my ongoing research into refugee-refugee humanitarianism as an invisible form of Southern-led (rather than Northern-led or Northern-dominated) responses to displacement from Syria.

In this first of a two-part contribution, I describe the case of Maribel Trujillo-Diaz. Maribel is a long-time resident of Fairfield, Ohio, United States. She is a worker in a local candy factory, and the married mother of four dependent American citizens. After cooperating fully with a series of escalating immigration enforcement requirements, Maribel was arrested in February, incarcerated in a detention centre, and slated for deportation on 19 April.
In Part II, I will discuss how Maribel’s case reflects tensions and fissures in immigration and refugee politics and law in the United States. I will outline the political and legal contexts for her case. I will also argue that the fact of Maribel’s deportation speaks to the power of the criminalization and illegalization of migrants paradigm currently dominating the United States.
Note: This version is an updated paper based on CARFMS Blog entries dated 27 April and 25 May 2017.

- by Stephanie J. Silverman
- •
- Refugee Studies, Immigration, Immigration Studies, Asylum Law

This paper discusses certain mechanisms of exclusion practiced by a number of European states and the costs associated with them, before posing a question that is being raised more and more across Europe – what price are we prepared to pay to maintain our borders? The mechanisms of exclusion addressed are deportation, detention and dispersal. Although deportation, detention and dispersal have formed an occasional part of the migration regimes of European countries throughout the twentieth century, they tended to be used in response to particular events or ‘crises’. However, they have now become ‘normalised’, ‘essential' instruments in the ongoing attempt to control or manage immigration in European states. The shift from ‘exceptional’ to ‘normal’ occurred in response to a series of events at the end of the 1980s and 1990s, which created a sense of crisis. In the intervening years, this has been translated into a crisis of control, and since controlling the mobility of people acr...

- by Liza Schuster
- •
- Sociology, Asylum, Asylum seekers

How have European asylum policies developed during the COVID-19 pandemic, from the perspective of the long-term political trajectory of the European asylum regime? When the pandemic broke out, EU member states had for three decades been trying to resolve the shortcomings of the 1990 Dublin Convention. The weaknesses in the regime persisted both due to the overloading of frontline member states and the efforts to control secondary flows of asylum seekers within the EU. The pandemic has provided neither a hiatus nor a turning point in this regard but has produced a fluid situation that precipitated the United Kingdom’s withdrawal and the consolidation of the long-term trend of coercion of asylum seekers, between member states and at their external borders.

- by Revista CIDOB d'Afers Internacionals and +1
- •
- Asylum, Refugees, Pandemics, Council of the European Union
- by Dokleata Qamili
- •
- International Relations, International Law, Human Rights, Asylum Law

Against the background of the recent migratory crisis in Europe, this Delmi report aims at examining and taking stock of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS). It asks what has been achieved and what has failed, focusing on two of the most pressing challenges: (1) the unequal distribution of asylum seekers across the EU Member States and the search for a more equitable sharing of responsibilities;
and (2) the wide variations regarding Member States’ decision-making practices on asylum applications and the need to achieve more harmonised recognition rates. We label these two aspects “solidarity” (regarding equitable responsibilitysharing) and “fairness” (regarding the approximation of asylum decisions).
The first empirical part of the study explores a number of proposals regarding responsibility-sharing for asylum seekers among the EU Member States, which have been brought up by policy-makers and researchers. The study focuses on the variations in dispersal effects of four different distribution keys for asylum seekers and discusses their appropriateness. Four different keys and their respective advantages and drawbacks are analysed with regard to their allocation criteria,
such as Member States’ population size, economic power, or territory. The authors also look into the de facto number of asylum seekers that the Member States have received in recent years and contrast these numbers to hypothetical fair quotas. The results show that some Member States have overperformed with regard to the number of asylum seekers they admitted, due to their geographical location within
the EU or other factors, whereas others have remained far below a fair share.
The second part asks whether there has been a trend towards increased convergence regarding Member States’ asylum decisions – which we might expect given the fact that the EU has worked towards an approximation for many years. It turns out, however, that while an overall trend towards higher protection rates can be identified, not least due to the increased numbers of asylum seekers from war-ridden countries such as Syria, Member States have made very little progress
regarding more harmonised decisions. Analysing national recognition rates for selected countries of origin (Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Kosovo), the authors find that a measurable approximation of national asylum outcomes has not been achieved. Extreme variations have persisted over many years, especially in the cases of Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2016, the chances for an asylum seeker from Iraq to receive protection in Hungary and the United Kingdom was below 13 percent,
compared to 100 percent in Spain and Slovakia. The case of Afghanistan is even more outstanding, with protection rates in 2016 oscillating between 1.7 percent and 97 percent.
Responsibility-sharing and harmonised asylum outcomes are key interdependent factors for the functioning of a Common European Asylum System. First and foremost, an approximation of asylum decisions is a precondition for a successful responsibility-sharing system as it would be unfair to allocate asylum seekers to a Member State where they would have very little chance to receive protection, if
the likelihood of protection would be much greater in another Member State. Vice versa, a fair mandatory distribution of asylum seekers would encourage national governments to abide by the common standards and not use restrictive asylum practices as a method to reduce their attractiveness as countries of destination.
Further to responsibility-sharing and the approximation of decision-making on asylum, the study briefly looks into other factors that also need to be taken forward to achieve a truly Common European Asylum System, such as greater harmonisation and cooperation regarding reception arrangements for asylum seekers and procedural
standards, and a stronger role for the current European Asylum Support Office (EASO). The authors also address the long-standing and fundamental dilemma that asylum applications can only be lodged from within the territory of a Member State or at its borders while it is, at the same time, illegal for most protection seekers to actually get there. The study argues that resettlement and humanitarian admission programmes need to be expanded, and that more legal pathways to protection in Europe should be opened.
Finally, the report presents some concrete ideas for working towards more harmonised asylum outcomes and a workable responsibility-sharing system. On asylum decision-making, the authors propose an enhanced role for a future EU asylum agency, which would include a “fire brigade” function to identify, analyse and mitigate situations in which Member States’ asylum recognition rates for applicants from specific countries of origin differ too strongly. The study also proposes “joint processing” exercises, where officials from several Member States examine and decide asylum applications lodged by nationals of a specific country together. The study presents four main future scenarios for policy-makers to contemplate. These scenarios include (1) the status quo, the continuation of the currently used
Dublin system including its responsibility-allocation criteria; (2) a “Dublin plus” scenario, in which the Dublin rules would be complemented by a new, quota-based corrective allocation mechanism; (3) a new quota-based allocation system that would replace the current Dublin criteria; and (4) finally a “free choice” system in which asylum seekers would be free to choose their country of destination.
In the context of these scenarios or policy options, the study also discusses ideas regarding transition periods for “skeptical” Member States, options to move money instead of people by allowing Member States to ransom themselves, and the importance of intra-EU freedom of movement rights for those asylum-seekers who are granted protection. The authors argue that in the long run, a quota-based system in accordance with scenario number three appears to be the most coherent course of action, though this seems politically difficult to achieve and demands a high level of ambition from EU and national policy-makers.
While the report is written from a European perspective and designed to be of relevance for all Member States, a special focus is applied on Sweden. The authors clarify, for example, what the effects of a fair distribution key for asylum seekers would be regarding the number of asylum applicants to be received in Sweden, and how Sweden positions itself regarding the extent to which asylum seekers from specific countries of origin are granted positive decisions. While Sweden has by far exceeded the quantitative responsibility for asylum seekers that it would have in relation to its population size and its economic power during the period 2008-2015, it suddenly underperformed in 2016 as the number of incoming asylum seekers plunged following the introduction of a number of restrictive measures.
Regarding asylum decisions, Sweden’s practices have often been roughly in line with the EU average, meaning that they did not massively deviate from the mainstream EU approach to specific countries of origin. However, regarding two very significant countries of origin, the authors found interesting variations. Concerning Iraqi nationals, Sweden has been more restrictive than the rest of the EU over the entire period of analysis from 2008 to 2016. While it had a comparatively generous
approach towards asylum seekers from Afghanistan, it was significantly stricter than the EU mainstream in 2015 and 2016.

Il volume ricostruisce la biografia di Carlo Livi (1823-1877) focalizzandosi sulla sua opera medico-psichiatrica e sul suo percorso di uomo e di intellettuale vissuto durante il Risorgimento. Livi fu una figura chiave della psichiatria italiana, a metà strada – nella pratica e nell’elaborazione teorica – tra l’ottimismo terapeutico del primo Ottocento e il pessimismo della psichiatria post-darwiniana. Lo studio evidenzia come il trattamento morale applicato dalla psichiatria ottocentesca in tutta Europa si intrecci in questo caso con le vicende risorgimentali. L’istanza moralizzatrice ed educativa e lo studio antropologico dell’uomo erano rivolti ai malati, ai pazzi, ai bambini, ai criminali e al popolo per realizzare un progetto nazionale e laico di rigenerazione sociale del paese.

- by Martina Starnini
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- Modern History, Cultural History, Forensic Anthropology, History of Education