Moving Beyond Security vs. the Duty to Protect: European Asylum and Border Management Policies under Test

Is there an intrinsic tension between the safety and the protection of migrants’ and asylum seekers’ rights on the one hand, and the control of European states over their borders, on the other? This paper argues that reaching both objectives is not impossible; on the contrary. Yet, it claims that neither European border management policies characterised by securitisation and containment nor asylum policies based on the responsibility principle, have so far succeeded in effectively reconciling them. It further asserts that in order to do so, a shift in paradigm and a change in the tools employed by European states are needed.

Paper produced within the framework of the New-Med Research Network,February 2016.