Reshaping the External Dimension of EU Asylum Policy: the Difficult Quest for a Comprehensive Approach

Reshaping the External Dimension of EU Asylum Policy: the Difficult Quest for a Comprehensive Approach

by Roberto Cortinovis. Paper, January 2017

The increasingly protracted character of many displacement situations worldwide has led the international community to introduce innovative approaches to durable solutions for refugees and Internally displaced persons (IDPs).

Specifically, international initiatives have focused on two main areas of action: a) strengthening the nexus between humanitarian and development interventions in the context of forced displacement situations; b) introducing legal pathways to protection for refugees through resettlement and other humanitarian and non-humanitarian channels. The emerging of the above-mentioned international agenda has triggered a parallel revision of the European Union (EU) external action in the field of asylum and refugee protection, a process that has gained further momentum as a consequence of increasing migration and asylum flows experienced by Europe since 2014.

This Working paper explores the ways in which different approaches to durable solutions have been framed at the EU level and analyses the main strategic orientations and initiatives adopted by the EU in this policy domain.

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