Repelling Asylum-Seekers in Europe? Asylum-Seekers as an “Anomaly” in EU and UK Migration Laws and Policies

Dear Colleagues,

The spontaneous arrival of asylum seekers at host states’ borders has long embodied the refugee experience. Yet, this is precisely the lived experience that the EU (and its Member States) and the UK are increasingly rejecting and negating. Their migration laws and policies no longer accept that most asylum-seekers have no choice but to present themselves ‘uninvited’ at Europe’s borders. Against this backdrop, this Special Issue will take the refugee experience as its starting point to deepen understandings of and challenge Europe’s acute problematising of asylum-seekers and asylum-seeking on its shores.

The aims of this Special Issue are twofold:

• Explore the reconstruction of asylum seekers as an ‘anomaly’ in EU and UK migration laws and policies;
• Ask whether we are witnessing the end of asylum-seeking in Europe.

This Special Issue falls within the scope of Laws. It also responds to the journal’s statement that ‘contributions that bridge traditional boundaries and challenge injustices are particularly welcome’.

Topics of interest include the following:

• Refugee externalisation laws and policies in Europe;
• Containment laws and policies;
• Push-backs;
• Border violence;
• The illegalisation of asylum seekers;
• Non-entry regimes;
• Off-shoring of asylum procedures;
• Responsibility sharing;
• Safe and legal paths for asylum seekers and refugees;
• Aspects of asylum procedures.

Contributions may focus on the EU, individual EU Member States and/or the UK and use a range of methodological approaches.

If you are interested in contributing to the Special Issue, please send me an email (sylvie.da-lomba@strath.ac.uk).

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Sylvie Da Lomba
Guest Editor

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