Policy brief

The EU and offshore asylum processing

The European Union (EU) often appears to look to Australia as a country that has successfully managed to seal its maritime borders and control migration. This has been most concretely demonstrated by Denmark’s newly passed legislation, which allows for the relocation of asylum seekers to third countries while their applications are being processed. This raises concerns and expectations that other countries might follow suit.

In this Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) policy brief, “The EU and Offshore Asylum Processing: Why Looking to Australia Is Not a Way Forward”, Ayşe Bala Akal (Research Assistant, PRIO) and NCHS Co-Director Maria Gabrielsen Jumbert (Research Director, PRIO) demonstrate why seeking to emulate the Australian model of offshore processing of asylum seekers is not a good idea. In particular, Akal and Jumbert argue that offshore processing would breach a number of fundamental human rights principles upon which the EU is built.