Chasing Efficiency Can operational changes fix European asylum systems? Bertelsmann Stiftung Migration Policy Institute Europe March 2020

The heightened arrivals of asylum seekers and migrants on European shores in 2015–16 sent policymakers across the continent scrambling for new strategies to manage migration. Proposals to reform the European Union’s legal framework for asylum were the first out of the starting blocks but, several years later, no such agreement has been reached. And with new EU leadership having taken office in late 2019, Brussels is hungry for fresh ideas that will either revive or reform the Common European Asylum System (CEAS). Crucial to this search will be a recognition that, while deficiencies still plague Europe’s asylum systems, these systems have changed significantly since the onset of the migration and refugee crisis—even in the absence of legal reforms

Chasing Efficiency: Can operational changes fix European asylum systems? Bertelsmann Stiftung Making Asylum Systems Work in Europe Initiative February 2020.

The heightened arrivals of asylum seekers and migrants on European shores in 2015–16 sent policymakers across the continent scrambling for new strategies to manage migration. Proposals to reform the European Union’s legal framework for asylum were the first out of the starting blocks but, several years later, no such agreement has been reached. And with new EU leadership having taken office in late 2019, Brussels is hungry for fresh ideas that will either revive or reform the Common European Asylum System (CEAS). Crucial to this search will be a recognition that, while deficiencies still plague Europe’s asylum systems, these systems have changed significantly since the onset of the migration and refugee crisis—even in the absence of legal reforms. The mounting pressure on asylum systems as arrivalsrose in 2014 and 2015 left European countries, and especially those on the asylum seekers’ travel routes, no other choice but to tackle deficiencies head on, from incomplete registration of newcomers to poor reception conditions and lengthy asylum procedures. These and other problems were neither new nor unknown to national and EU policymakers, but the institutional crises that followed the large-scale arrivals fostered change where multiple rounds of EU legal reforms and funding from the Asylum, Migration, and Integration Fund (AMIF) had struggled to do so. This sense of urgency was underpinned by recognition that fair and swift asylum procedures were needed not only to guarantee access to protection for those in need, but also to deter misuse of asylum systems and to maintain public and political support. State and nonstate actors began to dissect asylum and return systems and find answers to persistent questions, including why reaching a final decision on certain asylum cases took so long and why certain rejected asylum seekers were so difficult to return to their countries of origin. A common conclusion was that these issues demanded not (solely) legal but often process-focused solutions. Across Europe, Member States tested new or revamped old ideas to improve the operation of their asylum systems as they register those seeking protection, offer them reception and material assistance, investigate their protection claims, and then, depending on the outcome of their cases, integrate or return them. This was a period of intense innovation, driven by necessity. The task now is to take what has been learned about practices that foster swift, high-quality asylum processes and explore how the European Union can best promote their application across the bloc

Voluntary child soldiering : a case-study of the anti-apartheid struggle

In this thesis, I present a theoretical framework in which children's voluntary participation in armed conflict becomes a reasonable act within their social environment. I argue that in order to gain a more analytical understanding of why children volunteer, social scientists require an in-depth knowledge of the political, social and economic conditions in which they join up And of the meanings that children attach to those situations and their reactions. Prior quantitative data on the social distribution of child volunteering have often been used to proclaim that `the most vulnerable of the vulnerable' are recruited. On the basis of a discourse analysis of UNHCR's policies and activities in relation to under-age recruitment, I illustrate my claim that dominant Euro-American conceptualisations of childhood have primarily shaped research and humanitarian aid regarding child soldiering and resulted in the portrayal of child soldiers as innocent victims who are corrupted by adult wars. I subsequently go on to show how a new paradigm for the study of childhood can enhance contemporary knowledge on the social processes and factors that lead children to consider and eventually join a military group or opt for an alternative mode of action to cope with their dire situation. In my qualitative case-study of child soldiering in the anti-apartheid struggle, I found that in joining a political organisation and subsequently its military wing, young South Africans sought to assert their (political) agency within the structural and cultural features that shaped their social environment. Within the context of changing peer and intergenerational relationships, these children carved out more powerful identities for them to address the social injustices that had affected their personal and collective lives

Voluntary child soldiering : a case-study of the anti-apartheid struggle

In this thesis, I present a theoretical framework in which children's voluntary participation in armed conflict becomes a reasonable act within their social environment. I argue that in order to gain a more analytical understanding of why children volunteer, social scientists require an in-depth knowledge of the political, social and economic conditions in which they join up And of the meanings that children attach to those situations and their reactions. Prior quantitative data on the social distribution of child volunteering have often been used to proclaim that `the most vulnerable of the vulnerable' are recruited. On the basis of a discourse analysis of UNHCR's policies and activities in relation to under-age recruitment, I illustrate my claim that dominant Euro-American conceptualisations of childhood have primarily shaped research and humanitarian aid regarding child soldiering and resulted in the portrayal of child soldiers as innocent victims who are corrupted by adult wars. I subsequently go on to show how a new paradigm for the study of childhood can enhance contemporary knowledge on the social processes and factors that lead children to consider and eventually join a military group or opt for an alternative mode of action to cope with their dire situation. In my qualitative case-study of child soldiering in the anti-apartheid struggle, I found that in joining a political organisation and subsequently its military wing, young South Africans sought to assert their (political) agency within the structural and cultural features that shaped their social environment. Within the context of changing peer and intergenerational relationships, these children carved out more powerful identities for them to address the social injustices that had affected their personal and collective lives.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Cracked Foundation, Uncertain Future: Structural weaknesses in the Common European Asylum System

In 2014 and 2015, as more than 1 million asylum seekers travelled to Europe in search of safety, national reception systems faltered, the European Union failed to coordinate a rapid and effective response, and many asylum and social-support systems reached a breaking point. Yet the number of arrivals alone, while historic, was not solely to blame. Structural deficiencies—both legal and operational—are baked into the very DNA of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) and have long undermined Europe’s ability to manage asy- lum flows in a humane and efficient manner. As EU and national policymakers seek to reform asylum systems across the bloc to improve their operability and stress-resilience, it is essential that they take due account of these weaknesses