10 December 2025
The Ghost of Dublin Still Among Us
On 11 November, the European Commission inaugurated the first Annual Migration Management Cycle, marking one of the first concrete steps toward implementing the New Pact on Migration and Asylum. The Pact promises a renewed balance between solidarity and responsibility, but the details matter. Whereas a final evaluation might be too early at this stage, the Commission’s recent Implementing Decision already raises some concerns. Several implementation choices risk reinforcing existing dynamics of distrust between the Member States that also negatively affect fundamental rights obligations and access to asylum. Continue reading >>
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22 August 2025
The Next Episode On Gender-Based Asylum
One of the CJEU’s most talked-about recent cases asks a simple question: when does someone belong to a “particular social group” under EU refugee law? On 11 June 2024 in K, L v Staatssecretaris van Justitie en Veiligheid (K, L), the CJEU found that, women who genuinely came to identify themselves with the fundamental value of equality between women and men during their stay in the host country can be regarded as belonging to a particular social group. However, the implementation of the K, L judgment has led to a divergence between national policy and national courts over the meaning of “identification with the fundamental value of equality between women and men.” Continue reading >>
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23 October 2024
Getting a Grip on Migration but Mind European Law!
On September 13, the new Dutch government led by Dick Schoof outlined its programme for the next years. Unsurprisingly, a major point of this programme regards asylum and migration, for which the greatest ambition is to install the strictest regime ever and to include the Netherlands within the category of Member States of the European Union with the strictest admission rules. This post reviews these proposals through the lens of European Law to challenge their legal feasibility and flag the potential incompatibility with Dutch obligations stemming from EU and international law. Continue reading >>
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29 July 2024
‘One, No One, One Hundred Thousand’
States use mechanisms such as visas, maritime interdiction operations, pushback practices to unsafe countries to prevent migrants from reaching their shores, applying for asylum, or invoking fundamental rights guarantees. This raises the question of whether and to what extent States have extraterritorial obligations towards migrants who have not yet reached the territory of destination countries. By focusing on recent practices in the Mediterranean, this post addresses this overarching question. Continue reading >>
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07 September 2022