Improving Policies in the Field of Asylum and Human Rights Protection in the US and EU

Abstract

Providing international protection to people fleeing persecution, torture and other inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment is recognised both in the US and EU as an important international obligation. Both the US and the EU have ratified international instruments which require states to provide international protection for an ever wider group of persons. At the same time, non-governmental organisations, academics and even international organisations have decried the reluctance of both the US and EU Member States to afford protection to specific individuals. This policy paper will provide some proposals how to bridge the divide between the US and EU commitments to provide protection and an apparent reluctance actually to accord that protection to individuals.