Prior to 2013, responsibility for refugee status determination (RSD) in Greece, a major entry point to Europe for undocumented migrants and asylum seekers, traditionally lay with its police and the ministry responsible for public order. The country’s asylum system was…
The road to refugee status determination is often strewn with obstacles, involving multiple interviews and long waiting periods. When refugees are recognised on a group determination basis, the process becomes relatively more straightforward, and can be more efficient for all…
Brazil has offered two legal pathways for displaced Venezuelans who have entered the country since 2015. The first avenue entails residency permits and the second is through refugee status. Regularisation of Venezuelans’ legal status through the provision of residency permits…
In recent decades, the protection of refugees and the protection of stateless persons have largely been considered independently of each other. This is reflected in the development of separate legal instruments: the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1954 Statelessness Convention.[1]…
From 2002 onwards, populations facing recurrent socio-political unrest in the Central African Republic (CAR) have sought refuge in neighbouring countries, including Cameroon. This peaked in 2014, with the registration of almost 120,000 Central African refugees in the eastern part of…
Beginning in 2014, Italian authorities established ‘centres of extraordinary reception’ (CAS) across the country as an emergency measure to house asylum seekers. Intended as a temporary solution to a nearly fourfold increase in arrivals by sea between 2013 and 2014,…
COVID-19 poses a number of challenges to asylum systems. What happens when asylum systems are unable to operate in accordance with accepted processes and modalities? What if interviewers and decision-makers cannot meet asylum seekers or come to the office? How…
At the beginning of the Venezuelan migration crisis, Peru was one of the few States that implemented policies to facilitate legal entry and stay. With the introduction in 2018 of the Temporary Residency Permit (Permiso Temporal de Permanencia, PTP), thousands…
The 2018 Global Compact on Refugees highlighted the identification of international protection needs as an “area in need of support” and subsequently established an Asylum Capacity Support Group.[1] The aim of this mechanism is to strengthen aspects of national asylum…
Launched in 1998, the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement represent a major landmark in international standards for the protection of the human rights of internally displaced persons (IDPs). To mark the 20th anniversary of the Guiding Principles, in 2018 I…