After eight years of debate, the EU states have now adopted the reform of the Common European Asylum System (GEAS). Sharp criticism comes “stante pede” from migration research. “Fundamental norms of refugee protection are increasingly being ignored,” say experts at the European level. “Global responsibility is merely lip service.”
In Germany, the occasion was the presentation of the “Global Migration Report 2024.” It is published annually by various universities and think tanks. This year, the report focuses on the GEAS reform, with which asylum seekers without a right to protection are to be intercepted at the EU’s external borders. Planned are collective accommodations with initially 30,000 detention-like places. Asylum seekers coming from a state where, on average, only 20 percent of applicants are granted asylum, are to be subjected to an accelerated border procedure with limited rights of appeal and directly deported if rejected. This also applies to families with children. Only unaccompanied minors are exempt.
The EU continues to promise a lawful process for every refugee. The research team’s criticism: nothing of the sort is guaranteed. Although the reform is a “breakthrough” as an agreement, said a migration researcher, it shows “a clear imbalance” in content. There is concern about a threat to the welfare of children. “Children are entitled to special protection under the European Convention on Human Rights, the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, and according to a report by the Council of Europe, they are vulnerable persons.” Detaining them is only allowed as a “last resort,” and whether the GEAS reform implements this is by no means certain.
Also problematic is the “lack of procedural guarantees in the border procedure,” and an “undermining” of the principle of non-refoulement to states where “serious human rights violations” are threatened. Europe’s desire for significantly more deportations is also “neither sensible, sustainable, nor enforceable.” In poorer countries around the world, which have taken in many more refugees than Europe, the GEAS reform will lead to a “prolongation and consolidation of displacement situations outside Europe.” For two-thirds of all refugees worldwide, flight is already a permanent condition. Long-standing displacement crises, such as the situation of the Rohingya in Bangladesh or the Syrians in Turkey, are “largely ignored” here.
Conflict researcher Benjamin Etzold called for more legal migration opportunities to Europe. In practice, they have been “increasingly eroded,” he said. Under humanitarian admission programs, Germany took in only 5,000 people in 2023. The willingness to accept is “extremely low.”
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