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Journal ArticleDOI

From a different angle : Poland and the Mediterranean refugee crisis

01 Nov 2016-German Law Journal (Cambridge University Press (CUP))-Vol. 17, Iss: 6, pp 967-980
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present and clarify the Polish perspective towards the Mediterranean refugee crisis and suggest temporary legal measures to address large movements of refugees and migrants, as such measures deal with the specificity of such movements in the best way that can be achieved.
Abstract: This Article aims at presenting and clarifying the Polish perspective towards the Mediterranean refugee crisis. Poland has not been directly affected by this crisis so far and this makes the Polish case significantly different from the European Union Member States that are directly affected by a large influx of people seeking protection. This Article briefly presents the Polish legal framework and its origins and analyzes the particular governmental (in)actions towards the Mediterranean refugee crisis, including references to the politicized debate on the issue. Also, the specific context of a potential future Ukrainian crisis is addressed. The Article finishes with concluding remarks and suggestions to employ temporary legal measures to address large movements of refugees and migrants, as such measures deal with the specificity of such movements in the best way that can be achieved.
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Journal ArticleDOI
14 Nov 2020
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focused on the principle of solidarity in the EU law and its interpretation by Member States as well as the Court of Justice, and analyzed three main EU solidarity and burden sharing measures: the Dublin mechanism, the applied in 2015 relocation schemes and ‘forgotten’ temporary protection measures.
Abstract: The migration and refugee crisis in Europe 2015–2016 has posed a great challenge to the international and European community in terms of solidarity with refugees, forced migrants and countries most vulnerable to large waves of migration. It would seem that solidarity in the European Union is well established, but it turned out that the crisis situation triggered a different interpretation of solidarity within the EU and revealed the weaknesses of burden sharing mechanisms. The intra-EU solidarity proved to be the most difficult to achieve in practice. In this study considerable attention is paid to the principle of solidarity in the EU law and its interpretation by Member States as well as the Court of Justice. Moreover, the conducted analysis concerns three main EU solidarity and burden sharing measures – the Dublin mechanism, the applied in 2015 relocation schemes and ‘forgotten’ temporary protection measures. Their inadequacy in times of crisis became an important lesson both for the States as well as for the European Union itself and makes us rethink the concept of solidarity and its practical application.

4 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
27 Nov 2017
TL;DR: The Visegrad Group and its actually common policy in relation to refugees is a reflection of a part of current processes within the EU as discussed by the authors, where the countries of the V4 are regulating migration questions on a regional level involving the neighboring countries during more than two years.
Abstract: Migration challenges facing the EU aggravated many internal contradictions of the union. The Visegrad Group and its actually common policy in relation to refugees is a reflection of a part of current processes within the EU. Although formal institutions are not formed, the countries of the V4 are regulating migration questions on a regional level involving the neighboring countries during more than two years. The article is devoted to a research of the Visegrad Group’s actions in conditions of the European migration crisis that includes participation in pan-European measures to tackle refugee’s inflow and initiatives of the Visegrad Group itself and its member countries. Although Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic are affected differently by the migration crisis, all countries were able to develop a common position in relation to inflow of refugees. The key position of the countries became a rejection of the European resettlement scheme and quota allocation. So far, despite the pressure from the European Commission and the criticism from several international organizations the V4 does not intend to take part in the quota system. The current migration crisis did not cause disagreement and weakening of the Visegrad Group, as several experts sometime say. On the contrary, the existing challenges gave an opportunity to this sub-regional group to be more heard at the EU level. Slovakia’s presidency of the EU Council in the second half of 2016 played a part in this process, in which Slovakia tried to transfer ideas of the sub-regional grouping to an all-European level. The article provides a substantiation of the Visegrad Group’s vision of migration problems based on both socio-economic and political factors. It is possible to single out the orientation in the immigration policy mainly not in the countries of Africa and the Middle East, where the main flow of refugees is coming from. The lower level of socio-economic development of the V4’s countries compared to others members of the EU makes the Visegrad Group into transit territory. The political forces are important also, which currently head the countries of the Visegrad Group and are opponents of mass migration.
References
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01 Jan 2013
TL;DR: The Protocol was taken note of with approval by the Economic and Social Council in resolution 1186 (XLI) of 18 November 1966 and was take note of by the General Assembly in resolution 2198 (XXI) of 16 December 1966.
Abstract: The Protocol was taken note of with approval by the Economic and Social Council in resolution 1186 (XLI) of 18 November 1966 and was taken note of by the General Assembly in resolution 2198 (XXI) of 16 December 1966. In the same resolution the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to transmit the text of the Protocol to the States mentioned in article V thereof, with a view to enabling them to accede to the Protocol

296 citations

09 Mar 2017
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the EU's mechanism of relocation of asylum seekers from Greece and Italy to other Member States, recommending that asylum seekers' interests, and rights be duly taken into account, as it is only through their full engagement that relocation will be successful.
Abstract: This study, commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the LIBE Committee, examines the EU’s mechanism of relocation of asylum seekers from Greece and Italy to other Member States. It examines the scheme in the context of the Dublin System, the hotspot approach, and the EU-Turkey Statement, recommending that asylum seekers’ interests, and rights be duly taken into account, as it is only through their full engagement that relocation will be successful. Relocation can become a system that provides flexibility for Member States and local host communities, as well as accommodating the agency and dignity of asylum seekers. This requires greater cooperation from receiving States, and a clearer role for a single EU legal and institutional framework to organise preference matching and rationalise efforts and resources overall.

33 citations

01 Jan 1999
TL;DR: The rationale upon which international refugee law rests is not simply the need to give shelter to those persecuted by the state, but... to provide refuge to those whose home state cannot or does not afford them protection from persecution as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: International refugee law is designed only to provide a back-up source of protection to seriously at-risk persons. Its purpose is not to displace the primary rule that individuals should look to their state of nationality for protection, but simply to provide a safety net in the event a state fails to meet its basic protective responsibilities. 1 A observed by the Supreme Court of Canada, “[t]he international community was meant to be a forum of second resort for the persecuted, a ‘surrogate,’ approachable upon the failure of local protection. The rationale upon which international refugee law rests is not simply the need to give shelter to those persecuted by the state, but . . . to provide refuge to those whose home state cannot or does not afford them protection from persecution.” 2

5 citations