Refugees and the European Union- A study of the discrepancy between the asylum policies of the European Union and the human rights norm of the Geneva Refugee Convention

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In the late 1990s, the member states of the European Union decided to establish a Common European Asylum System (CEAS), in order to enhance refugee protection. However, the emerging common asylum policies have been deeply criticized for breaching international norms and principles. In this thesis I argue that a discrepancy does exist between the international human rights norm expressed as the Geneva Convention and the common EU asylum policies. I also suggest several explanations to this situation. In applying the spiral-model of human rights change, which is based on a social constructivist theoretical approach, I explore the process of implementation and socialization of international norms into local contexts. The failure of the European Union to fully comply with the Geneva Convention and the norm of non-refoulement can arguably be explained by insufficient pressure from transnational advocacy networks and international organizations such as the UNHCR, as well as Western powers. Thus, the continuation of processes of argumentation, persuasion, moral consciousness-raising and institutionalization are crucial for the norm to be fully implemented. Other factors hampering the norm implementation process are the constitution of secr...