A Study of the Development of the Asylum Law and Policy of the European Union with Focus on the Role of Burden-Sharing and Temporary Protection

Abstract: This thesis deals with the development of the EU asylum law and policy with focus on the role of burden-sharing and temporary protection. The Geneva Convention is the legal framework for community action. This is laid down by Article 63.1 of the EC Treaty. Article 63 does not only refer to the Geneva Convention, but also to other relevant Human Rights Treaties such as the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1965 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. It seems like all the EU asylum agreements dealt with in this thesis are in accordance with the Human Rights Treaties. In many cases the agreements even go beyond the Geneva Convention, since they concern displaced persons who are not qualified as refugees under the Geneva Convention. In general, the Member States have granted a more favourable legal status to asylum seekers than prescribed by the Geneva Convention. The goal of the harmonisation of the Member States asylum based on the Geneva Convention was first mentioned in 1989, when the Palma Document was adopted. The most important steps in the harmonisation of European national refugee and asylum policies to date were taken with the Treaty of Amsterdam. The Amsterdam Treaty introduced far-reaching EC-Competencies in the field of asylum and refugee law. The Community competence regarding temporary protection allows for the establishment of minimum rights for temporarily protected persons and persons who otherwise need international protection. Concerning burden-sharing the Council is given a competence to adopt measures with the aim of promoting burden-sharing with regard to Geneva Convention refugees and displaced persons. The 1995 Resolution on burden sharing compromises a series of guidelines for estimating how to share the burden of refugees in situations of mass influx. These guidelines are very general and they will have to be further specified if they are to provide an effective basis for burden-sharing measures. The 1996 Decision on burden-sharing attempts to set up a rapid response mechanism for situations of mass influx whereby the principles of the 1995 Resolution would be applied to a specific emergency situation. The Dublin Convention came into force in 1997. It created a system of exclusive competencies for the adjudication of asylum claims, which has effects for any burden-sharing mechanism. The role of the experimental programmes from 1997 to 1999 is to regulate the reception and voluntary repatriation of specific categories of protection seekers. The European Refugee Fund supports and encourages the efforts made by the Member States in receiving and bearing the consequences of receiving refugees and displaced persons. The financial reference for implementing this European Refugee Fund Decision is EUR 216 million. It has been doubted that this amount is sufficient. However, creating the Fund was a good initiative. If the projects undertaken are successful, maybe more money will be added to the Fund later. In 2001 the Temporary Protection Directive, which is closely linked to the European Refugee Fund was adopted. It contains, among other things, minimum standards for giving temporary protection in the event of a mass influx of displaced persons.