Travel regime over refugee regime: how the EU circumvented its duties to accept refugees during the migrant crisis

Abstract

For the past decades, global migratory pressures have

steadily increased and provided both the Global North and

South with several new challenges. Using the concept of regime

complexity as a theoretical framework, this article examines how states of the Global North and South have dealt with these challenges. On the basis of an in-depth study of the 2015 European migration crisis, this article argues that the European Union (EU) has drastically restricted access to asylum for refugees by addressing the crisis through the travel regime instead of through the refugee regime. It further contends that this has had an important impact on the mandate of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the main body governing the refugee regime. Further research should investigate whether other states of the Global North have reacted similarly to growing migratory pressures and investigate what impact this has had on the institutions at the heart of the refugee regime.