Refugee protection or cherry picking? Assessing new admission policies for refugees in Europe

The right to flee and seek asylum has come under increasing pressure.

Following the increase in migrant arrivals and fatalities in the past decade, expanding ‘safe and legal routes’ for refugees has become a key concern in European and global debates on international protection.

This has led to a renewed interest in the development of a variety of complementary channels for admission of refugees from first countries of asylum.

Why certain European states have developed such complementary pathways, their (re-)design and implications for different beneficiaries, such as Syrians and Ukrainians, however, remain little understood.

While existing research has pointed out that such pathways are often shaped by specific national interests, raising concerns over ‘cherry-picking’, a theory-led empirical assessment whether these are indeed undermining refugee protection is still missing. This interdisciplinary project addresses this research gap.

Based on comparative case study analysis of Germany and the United Kingdom, the project examines (1) policy drivers (what factors have led to the development of pathways); (2) the governance framework (institutions, actors and legal and policy frameworks shaping both policy development and implementation), and (3) the implementation of these pathways, focusing on vulnerability and integration as key aspects both for the selection of beneficiaries and for their post-arrival trajectories.