Research
Database

This research report seeks to shed more light on the current flow of Syrian asylum seekers to Europe.Since the outbreak of the conflict in Syria, it is estimated that millions of people have fled their homes.As of October 2015, 700,000 of them have declared asylum in the European Union. Although most European states that are receiving Syrian refugees have signed and ratified the 1951 Convention, it is a challenge to guarantee refugeesﾒ basic rights: given the lack of money, the lack of an infrastructure to manage large and sudden influxes; and, above all, unclear political strategies. The flawed response is also generated by a failure to understand the factors that are leading Syrian families to make such a dangerous journey to Europe, factors that push them to waste all their savings and jump on boats leading them to unknown lands. Indeed, despite the high political and humanitarian interest around growing global migration levels, there are very few systems in place to monitor the migration flows, especially in the Middle East and towards Europe. Our knowledge of irregular migration is often plagued with fragmented perspectives on the socio-cultural dynamics of the journey, the smugglertraveller relationship and their community dimensions. Moreover, there is no exhaustive data collection to support humanitarian organization programmes in terms of easing the movement of refugees, safely and with dignity. The lack of systematic investigation of migration in Europe and in the Middle East generates fears and misconceptions among the population at large; while, in order to respond effectively to the emergency, more evidence-based knowledge is urgently needed to share as widely as possible. The present report aims at filling this information gap through systematic and participatory data collection exercises. It reports data and information from Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon about push and pull factors, protection risks and threats, and the availability of information before and during their journey across the Balkans.

The present study provides a comprehensive analysis of the information and communication channels that migrants use upon their arrival in Italy, and which may help determine their secondary movements. The pages that follow present findings drawn from surveys and interviews and focus groups carried out in Italy with 686 migrants (including irregular migrants, asylum seekers, and migrants who qualified for refugee status, humanitarian protection or subsidiary protection) during the second half of 2017. These findings are followed by recommendations involving the development of more effective mechanisms for migration information dissemination and for awareness-raising campaigns for migrants within the context of the EU’s Action Plan against Migrant Smuggling.

This report presents the main findings of the European Migration Network (EMN) study on the application of the Temporary Protection Directive (2001/55/EC) in 2023. The study explores some developments, challenges, and good practices relevant to the application of the Temporary Protection Directive (TPD) in EMN Member Countries in the first half of 2023. Since 24 February 2022, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has created a situation of mass arrivals of displaced people from Ukraine to the European Union (EU) and other countries surrounding Ukraine. The war caused large flows of people to leave Ukraine in search of safety, with crossings at EU external borders peaking at 800 000 weekly entries from Ukraine and Moldova during the early months of the war.4 The EU Member States bordering Ukraine and Moldova were the first to respond to the crisis. Following the call of Minis- ters for Home Affairs, on 2 March 2022, the European Commission proposed to activate the TPD. On 4 March 2022, the Council adopted an Implementing Decision7 establishing temporary protection for displaced persons from Ukraine, activating the TPD for the first time since its adoption in 2001. This was a key component of the EU’s unified response. As per Article 2(2) of the Council Decision, temporary protection covers not only displaced Ukrainian nationals re- siding in Ukraine on or before 24 February 2022 and their family members, but also stateless persons and nationals of third countries other than Ukraine who benefitted from international protection or equivalent national protection in Ukraine before 24 February 2022 and their family members. As per Article 2(2) of the Council Decision, EU Member States should provide either temporary protection or adequate protection under national law to stateless persons and nationals of third countries other than Ukraine legally residing in Ukraine before 24 February 2022 on the basis of a valid permanent residence permit issued in accordance with Ukrainian law, and who were unable to return in safe and durable conditions to their country or re- gion of origin. Article 2(3) gives Member States the option to provide temporary protection to other persons, including stateless persons and nationals of third countries other than Ukraine who were residing legally in Ukraine and who are unable to return in safe and durable conditions to their country or region of origin. Several EU Member States also extended the scope by providing temporary protection to Ukrainian nationals already legally present in that EU Member State and to those who moved shortly before 24 February 2022. In accordance with Article 4(1) of the TPD, the duration of temporary protection is of a period of one year. Unless ter- minated under the terms of the Directive, the duration may be – and indeed has been – automatically extended by six-month periods for a maximum of one year, i.e. to March 2024. The European Commission’s Operational Guidelines9 recommended that EU Member States issue residence permits for the full possible duration of two years, i.e. until March 2024. After the first automatic extension until March 2024, the Council of the European Union announced on 28 September 2023 that temporary protection would be extended until 4 March 2025 and on the 25 September 2024 another extension was granted until 4 March 2026

Moldova is at the stage of elaborating the new legal framework that covers the migration domain. The most important challenge faced by Moldova at the moment is to see how all these legal acts will be implemented in practice, i.e. how they will be interpreted and understood by authorities responsible for their direct application. Another issue is if European standards transposed into legislation will fill the existing gaps, if the state is willing to commit politically and financially, and if the Law will work in practice. An example here might be the tolerated stay, which is a new notion for Moldova, the introduction of which aims at avoiding abuses of the asylum system or solving, for a short period of time, the situation of stateless persons. In order to improve the coordination and supervision mechanism of central public authorities vested with duties related to migration management, the Government, by its Decision No. 133 of 23.02.2010, established the Commission for the Coordination of Certain Activities relating to the Migration Process which is a permanent consultative body to the Government, assuring the monitoring of and cooperation between the relevant authorities. Moldova is at the stage of elaborating the new legal framework that covers the migration domain. The most important challenge faced by Moldova at the moment is to see how all these legal acts will be implemented in practice, i.e. how they will be interpreted and understood by authorities responsible for their direct application. Another issue is if European standards transposed into legislation will fill the existing gaps, if the state is willing to commit politically and financially, and if the Law will work in practice. An example here might be the tolerated stay, which is a new notion for Moldova, the introduction of which aims at avoiding abuses of the asylum system or solving, for a short period of time, the situation of stateless persons. In order to improve the coordination and supervision mechanism of central public authorities vested with duties related to migration management, the Government, by its Decision No. 133 of 23.02.2010, established the Commission for the Coordination of Certain Activities relating to the Migration Process which is a permanent consultative body to the Government, assuring the monitoring of and cooperation between the relevant authorities. Moldova is at the stage of elaborating the new legal framework that covers the migration domain. The most important challenge faced by Moldova at the moment is to see how all these legal acts will be implemented in practice, i.e. how they will be interpreted and understood by authorities responsible for their direct application. Another issue is if European standards transposed into legislation will fill the existing gaps, if the state is willing to commit politically and financially, and if the Law will work in practice. An example here might be the tolerated stay, which is a new notion for Moldova, the introduction of which aims at avoiding abuses of the asylum system or solving, for a short period of time, the situation of stateless persons. In order to improve the coordination and supervision mechanism of central public authorities vested with duties related to migration management, the Government, by its Decision No. 133 of 23.02.2010, established the Commission for the Coordination of Certain Activities relating to the Migration Process which is a permanent consultative body to the Government, assuring the monitoring of and cooperation between the relevant authorities.

The focus of the project is to study recently introduced compulsory teaching of asylum seekers in 'Danish sexual morals' with the aim of unveiling the ways in which sexual behavior is being attached to culture and nationality and how specific conceptions of intimacy come to be understood as crucial and decisive for the integration in a late modern Western society. The project is designed as a two-part analysis combining both text-based discourse analysis and practice-oriented ethnography. The first comprises a corpus-assisted critical discourse text analysis of the mass media debate, policy documents, and teaching materials, which will flesh out the ideological underpinnings of the requirement for sexual education of asylum seekers. The second part investigates concrete practices through a four month ethnographic study at an asylum center (including participant observation of teachers' practices and students' reception together with in-depth interviews).

The overall objective of the project is to identify the policies and practices being implemented in different EU Member States to facilitate the labour market integration of recent refugees and asylum-seekers (i.e., those having arrived to the country in 2015) and to analyze them with a comparative perspective.

As early as twenty years ago, no one in Azerbaijan knew about refugees or people in similar situations who were forced to flee their homes due to various circumstances such as conflict and deportation. However, over the past 20 years these forced migration processes have reached such a magnitude in Azerbaijan that it has become part of the current Azeri reality, a kind of trademark which literally affects all spheres of life for this young state. However, these processes, as well as the plight and status of forced migrants have had their own characteristics and particularities at various times.

The project aims at improving the legal and procedural information provided to asylum seekers in order to improve the quality of asylum decisions and reduce asylum appeals in the EU. The project’s objectives are the following: - To assess the legal and procedural information that is provided to asylum seekers in the selected countries focusing on the content, the accessibility, the form and the source of the information. - To develop a set of guidelines and standards that builds on the EU acquis and related refugee protection framework as well as a set of indicators to assess the quality of information. - To identify and showcase of best practices from the selected EU Member States in the provision of legal and procedural information. - To assess the implications of legal and procedural information on the quality of decision-making at both first instance asylum applications and, when unsuccessful, at appeal. - To develop a community of practice and learning that will bring together relevant stakeholders from various countries to share information.