Refugee & Asylum Policy
Refugee & Asylum Policy
Recent Activity
Although the number of refugees displaced from the conflict in Iraq was significantly fewer than expected, the war produced some 260,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the North. Recent reports indicate that despite the threat of inter-ethnic retaliatory violence, many of these IDPs are now returning home.
Recognizing the particular challenges to refugee protection faced on both sides of the Atlantic, this report questions whether strengthening resettlement programs in the U.S. and Europe can help to address ongoing concerns over security, the volume and diversity of migrants, the rise of right-wing parties and the role of the welfare state.
Long a country of emigration, immigration, and asylum, Turkey has also become a country of transit for immigrants, according to Kemal Kirisci of Boagazici University.
In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on the U.S., EU officials issued a symbolic statement that the EU was prepared to receive Afghan refugees displaced from the looming American intervention. Despite internal policy tendencies to reject Afghan claims to protection and domestic security concerns, EU officials seemed to recognize at the time there was very little risk of a massive influx of Afghan refugees.
This report seeks to evaluate the extent to which expanding resettlement programs across the European Union can provide a strategic tool to manage a greater number of legal arrivals to EU Member States and whether Member States possess the political will to engage in resettlement.
This report seeks to understand the circumstances under which EU Member States are likely to engage in resettlement programs.The study promotes the development of a Common European International Protection System (CEIPS) as a means to incorporate resettlement, asylum and assistance in region of origin all under a single integrated agenda.