Human trafficking and the effectiveness of asylum policies

We investigate the effects of restrictive asylum policies on the number and group composition of asylum seekers. We model the choices of refugees and traffickers about whether to migrate and to apply for asylum. Counter-intuitively, restrictive asylum policies do not lead to a reduction in the inflow of refugees or to a better selection of asylum seekers. Instead, we show that under conditions outside the control of policy makers these policies can increase the number of asylum claims and the number of refugees working in slave-like conditions and prevent some of those most in need of protection from accessing it. --Asylum policy,Illegal immigration,Human trafficking

The management of multilateral negotiations: lessons from UN climate negotiations

Headline issue: The 2009 Conference of Parties (COP 15) in Copenhagen, which aimed to deliver a first-ever comprehensive global climate deal, ended without agreement in part because of poor management of the negotiations by the Danish host and the UNFCCC Secretariat. Significantly altered management practices a year later at COP16 in Cancun, Mexico, were a major factor in an agreement being reached. This policy paper looks at how negotiations management can contribute to successful negotiation outcomes by analysing evidence from 55 confidential interviews with senior negotiators from all coalitions involved in the UNFCCC process, high-level UN officials, lead host organisers and summit observers. Key findings: The evidence suggests that the COP Presidency and UNFCCC Secretariat can make an important contribution to achieving a successful negotiation outcome by: Creating a transparent and inclusive process. Transparency and inclusivity are crucial to ensure that all parties understand the negotiation process and its content. This enhances their ability to contribute and to compromise. It also reduces the possibility that parties attempt to obstruct negotiations because of procedural issues. Ensuring the capabilities of the organising institutions and individuals. Organisational cohesion within and between the Presidency and the UNFCCC Secretariat plays a key role in successful COPs. Individuals with key organisational roles, for example the President, the Head of the UNFCCC Secretariat and their advisors, must have expert understanding of the negotiation process, as well as being skilled networkers and communicators. Securing broad acceptance for the COP President. Building acceptance and trust in the authority of the COP President engenders a sense of goodwill among parties and empowers the President with sufficient leeway to take crucial decisions. It also reduces the potential for parties to block decisions. Enabling constructive arguing. Organisers from host nations and the UNFCCC Secretariat can facilitate constructive arguing that lets negotiators from different parties mutually reveal information about the interests that underlie their positions and provide a rationale for possible solutions. By doing so, constructive arguing allows those involved in negotiations to consider interests more comprehensively and to craft a deal that is acceptable to all. It can also make parties more amenable to new solutions and compromises

Lessons from Paris 2015: in multilateral negotiations, process is key

Effective negotiation management enhances cooperation and increases the chances of success, writes Kai Monhei

Strategic asylum law making in Europe: institutional locus

Given the background of changing institutional competencies in the European Union, we analyze the choice of asylum law standards of national and European parliaments, the Council of the European Union and codecision between the Council and the European Parliament. In a two country model we nd that the European arrangements maximize neither the welfare of the Member Countries nor the welfare of refugees. For the latter, there has been an improvement in the institutional location of asylum law making with the introduction of codecision. The current development towards a Common European Asylum System is in the interest of neither party. --Asylum policy,Illegal immigration,Regulatory competition,Public choice,EU institutions

Optimal discretion in asylum lawmaking

International audienceThis paper develops a regulatory competition model to study whether and how refugee law should be centralized, and what are the consequences for refugees and for host countries. Varying refugee flows across countries lead some destinations to adopt strict measures. The resulting externality leads to a generalized “race to the bottom” of asylum law. Neither fixed nor minimum standard harmonization are found to be in the interest of both host countries. Especially the most popular destinations like EU border countries would suffer from losing discretion. However, minimum standards would benefit refugees and less popular destinations

The Internalisation of External Costs in Transport: From the Polluter Pays to the Cheapest Cost Avoider Principle

The European Commission mandated the consulting firm CE Delft to develop a framework for the internalisation of external costs and to devise a number of potential internalisation scenarios for further analysis. The results of their preliminary research are published in a CE discussion paper, and the Commission is now formulating draft legislative proposals which will be subjected to a consultation of stakeholders.The present report offers a critical assessment of the above mentioned CE study, provides a theoretical examination of the relative strengths and weaknesses of the polluter pays principle and the cheapest cost avoider principle in relation to the problems arising in the road transport sector, demonstrates how the cheapest cost avoider principle can be applied in practice by providing examples of external costs in road transport, and puts forward recommendations for the appropriate principles that should guide the Commission's further activities in this area.Cheapest Cost Avoider, Externalities, Transport,

Non-unitary Trace Formulae

Diese Arbeit behandelt nicht-unitäre Verallgemeinerungen der Selbergschen Spurformel

(Sch)Rumpfbahn oder Flächenbahn?

Die Ergebnisse der Bahnreform und rot-grüner Verkehrspolitik sind frustrierend. Der ungebremste Kahlschlag ruiniert das Bahn­netz, das wichtigste Kapital einer Verkehrs­wende, weiter. Politische Weichenstellungen für alternative Konzepte fehle