The Cosmopolitics of Asylum-Seekers in the European Union^*

Too distant shores: the Strait of Gibraltar and the space of exception

“…Some aspects of the EU's evolving jurisprudence in matters of immigration, such as the concept of 'civic citizenship' that came into force in 2004 with the European Commission's Directive 109, seem to be consonant with Benhabib's considerations. However, the ongoing process of asylum policy harmonisation at the EU is still dominated by a security discourse, with a focus on the control and prevention of migration into the EU (Ruffer 2005;Levy 2005;Sassen 2007). 11 Therefore, it remains to be seen whether the EU will catch up with the realities of the transnational movement of peoples in ways that erode ignorance, indifference, preconceptions, and systematic wrongs.…”

future-citizens-of-the-world-the-contested-futures-of-independent-young-migrants-in-europe;hr

“…Like adult migrants, the lives of independent migrant young people in Europe are partly governed by a range of migration management instruments which have emerged, since the late 1990s, as part of the Common European Asylum System. These legal instruments reflect efforts to harmonise reception, integration and return procedures for migrants across Europe, and a more general trend to synergise immigration policies and strengthen economic and political collaboration between EU Member States (Lindstrøm 2005;Ruffer 2005;Schuster 2005). Many such policies have been criticized for normalising discriminatory and exclusionary practices (Düvell 2009;Watters, 2007;Fekete, 2005;Schuster 2003;Uçarer 2001 that meets the 'best interests' of each young person, emphasising that it may, depending on its particular objectives, be implemented either in the host country or, alternatively, in the host country and in the country of origin, or in the country of origin.…”