Asylum

Asylum, migration and borders

The increase in migration has presented opportunities and challenges across Europe. FRA encourages rights-compliant responses.

We provide practical expertise on this complex issue. This includes regular updates, focus papers and toolkits. We also outline policy alternatives and best practices.

Highlights

  • Handbook / Guide / Manual
    8
    October
    2025
    The Entry/Exit System (EES), launching in 2025, will register non-EU nationals crossing the EU’s external borders. This FRA guidance helps border guards apply the new rules in line with EU fundamental rights. It offers practical tips on informing people, collecting biometric data and supporting people with specific needs. Based on fieldwork at 10 border crossing points in 6 Member States, the guidance will ensure rights are respected under the new system. A separate guidance publication for managers accompanies this publication.
  • Opinion / Position Paper
    23
    July
    2025
    This position paper examines how the EU can counter the instrumentalisation of migrants while also upholding fundamental rights. Instrumentalisation refers to countries outside the EU using migration to exert political pressure. This position paper defines the phenomenon, provides examples, and outlines legal obligations under EU law. It provides legal analysis and warns that some responses risk undermining fundamental rights at the EU’s external borders, including the right to asylum. To counter instrumentalisation and uphold fundamental rights, the position paper proposes practical measures for Member States to take, such as sanctions, border controls, and cooperation with private operators.
  • Periodic updates / Series
    20
    June
    2025
    The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights regularly collects data on the operations of NGO vessels involved in search and rescue in the Mediterranean. This includes any legal proceedings against them, as well as any difficulties in disembarking migrants in safe ports. This paper provides an overview of criminal investigations and other legal proceedings initiated by European Union (EU) Member States against civil society organisations deploying search and rescue vessels and aircraft in the Mediterranean and/or against individual crew members. The latest update covers the period from 2018 up until 1 June 2025.
  • Page
    This page describes the activities of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) on migration and asylum. It also explains how these activities can help the European Union (EU) and its Member States to implement the Pact on Migration and Asylum in a fundamental rights-compliant manner.
    Publications and data
    Handbook / Guide / Manual
    17
    December
    2020
    The European Convention on Human Rights and European Union law provide an increasingly important framework for the protection of the rights of foreigners. European Union legislation relating to asylum, borders and immigration is developing fast. There is an impressive body of case law by the European Court of Human Rights relating in particular to Articles 3, 5, 8 and 13 of the ECHR. The Court of Justice of the European Union is increasingly asked to pronounce on the interpretation of European Union law provisions in this field. The third edition of this handbook, updated up to July 2020, presents this European Union legislation and the body of case law by the two European courts in an accessible way.
    8
    December
    2020
    This report looks at fundamental rights compliance at the European Union (EU)’s external land borders, including rivers and lakes. On 30 January 2020, the European Parliament requested the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) to prepare a report on these borders. It noted that the report should focus on the correct application of the safeguards in the European asylum acquis and the provisions of the Schengen Borders Code (Regulation (EU) 2016/399).
    6
    November
    2020
    The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights has been regularly collecting data on asylum and migration since September 2015. This report focuses on the fundamental rights situation of people arriving in Member States and EU candidate countries particularly affected by migration. It addresses fundamental rights concerns between 1 July and 30 September 2020.
    20
    October
    2020
    The EU Fundamental Rights Agency published in 2019 its report on the ‘Integration of young refugees in the EU’. The report explored the challenges of young people who fled armed conflict or persecution and arrived in the EU in 2015 and 2016. The report is based on 426 interviews with experts working in the area of asylum and integration, as well as 163 interviews with young people, aged 16 to 24, conducted between October 2017 and June 2018 in 15 regions and cities located in six Member States: Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Italy and Sweden. The links on this page provide a summary of the information collected during this period for each country about unaccompanied children turning 18 and the change in people’s legal status once international protection is granted. These two issues had at the time been identified as moments requiring sufficient, consistent and systematic support, particularly from lawyers, social workers and guardians, to ensure successful integration.
    This video statement by FRA Director Michael O’Flaherty was recorded on 15 October 2020 at the Moria migration facility that was destroyed by fire in September 2020.
    This video statement by FRA Director Michael O’Flaherty was recorded on 14 October 2020 at the temporary facility at Mavrovouni. This temporary camp was built to re-house people after the fire at the Moria migration facility on the island of Lesbos, in Greece.
    29
    July
    2020
    As we enter the second half of 2020, the constraints on our daily lives brought about by the Coronavirus pandemic have become a firm reality. New local lockdowns and the reintroduction of restrictive measures prompted by fresh outbreaks of the virus are a stark reminder that COVID-19 continues to shape our lives – and our enjoyment of fundamental rights – in profound ways. There is compelling evidence of how the pandemic has exacerbated existing challenges in our societies. This FRA Bulletin outlines some of the measures EU Member States adopted to safely reopen their societies and economies while continuing to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. It highlights the impact these measures may have on civil, political and socioeconomic rights.
    27
    July
    2020
    The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights has been regularly collecting data on asylum and migration since September 2015. This report focuses on the fundamental rights situation of people arriving in Member States and EU candidate countries particularly affected by migration. It addresses fundamental rights concerns between 1 April and 30 June 2020.
    24
    July
    2020
    All language versions now available
    12 September 2022
    This practical guidance addresses border-management staff in European Union (EU) Member States who work at the operational level. It aims to support them in implementing the fundamental rights safeguards of the Schengen Borders Code (Regulation (EU) No. 2016/399) and related EU law instruments in their daily work, when carrying out controls at external land borders.
    The EU Return Directive introduced an important fundamental rights safeguard for third-country nationals ordered to leave the EU because they do not or no longer fulfil the conditions for entry and/or stay. According to the Directive, Member States must provide for an effective forced-return monitoring system.
    3
    July
    2020
    The EU Return Directive (2008/115/EC) in Article 8 (6) introduced an important fundamental rights safeguard for third-country nationals ordered to leave the EU because they do not or no longer fulfil the conditions for entry and/or stay. According to the directive, Member States must provide for an effective forced-return monitoring system.
    19
    June
    2020
    In 2019, the International Organization for Migration estimated that 1,866 people have died or gone missing while crossing the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe to escape war or persecution or to pursue a better life. This is an average of five people per day. In recent years, a significant proportion of migrants in distress at sea have been rescued by civil society vessels deployed with a humanitarian mandate to reduce fatalities and bring rescued migrants to safety. Since 2018, however, authorities in some EU Member States started viewing civil society-deployed rescue vessels with hostility. As a reaction, national authorities initiated about 40 administrative and criminal proceedings against crew members or vessels, including seizing the latter. In some cases, rescue vessels were blocked in harbours due to flag issues or the inability to meet technical requirements.
    11
    June
    2020
    Now available in Macedonian and Serbian
    13 November 2020
    The year 2019 brought both progress and setbacks in terms of fundamental rights protection. FRA’s Fundamental Rights Report 2020 reviews major developments in the field, identifying both achievements and remaining areas of concern. This publication presents FRA’s opinions on the main developments in the thematic areas covered, and a synopsis of the evidence supporting these opinions. In so doing, it provides a compact but informative overview of the main fundamental rights challenges confronting the EU and its Member States.
    11
    June
    2020
    FRA’s Fundamental Rights Report 2020 reviews major developments in the field in 2019, identifying both achievements and areas of concern. It also presents FRA’s opinions on these developments, including a synopsis of the evidence supporting these opinions. This year’s focus chapter explores how to unlock the full potential of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
    28
    May
    2020
    The Coronavirus pandemic continues to interrupt everyday life in the EU in unprecedented ways. But the way it affects our societies is shifting. As governments gradually lift some of the measures put in place to contain the spread of COVID-19, new fundamental rights concerns arise: how to ensure that the rights to life and health are upheld as daily life transitions to a ‘new normal’. This Bulletin looks at declarations of states of emergency, or equivalent, and how they came under scrutiny. It considers the impact on fundamental rights in important areas of daily life, and includes a thematic focus on the processing of users’ data to help contain COVID-19, particularly by contact-tracing apps. It covers the period 21 March – 30 April 2020.
    27
    May
    2020
    The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights has been regularly collecting data on migration since September 2015. This report focuses on the fundamental rights situation of people arriving in Member States and EU candidate countries particularly affected by large migration movements. It addresses key fundamental rights concerns between 1 January and 31 March 2020.
    11
    May
    2020
    In recent years, thousands of girls and boys have reached Europe without their parents, and sought international protection. Many of them experienced violence, abuse and neglect in their home countries, and while in transit. They have the right to be protected in line with the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the European Convention on Human Rights, and European Union law. This report explores the challenges and good practices gathered in the implementation of such relocation programmes. Based on information FRA collected in 10 EU Member States, it aims to help national authorities to support the relocation of unaccompanied children by taking measures that are fully rights compliant and practically feasible.
    Based on the lessons learned from relocation
    experiences and on existing international and EU legal
    standards, FRA has developed a number of practical
    suggestions for the adjustment of relocation efforts to
    the protection needs of unaccompanied children. This
    guidance aims to be a practical tool for Member States
    that wish to engage in the relocation of unaccompanied
    children and in any future responsibility-sharing
    mechanisms, and to gain knowledge on how this can
    be done while respecting the child’s best interests.
    30
    March
    2020
    Children in migration are more vulnerable than adults, particularly when they are unaccompanied. Their vulnerability makes them more exposed to violence, exploitation and trafficking in human beings, as well as physical, psychological and sexual abuse. This report looks into challenges to the fundamental rights of children in migration throughout 2019. It pulls together the main issues identified in FRA’s Quarterly Bulletins on migration in selected EU Member States.
    27
    March
    2020
    French version now available
    24 April 2020
    Council of Europe (CoE) and European Union (EU) Member States have an undeniable sovereign right to control the entry of non-nationals into their territory. While exercising border control, states have a duty to protect the fundamental rights of all people under their jurisdiction, regardless of their nationality and/or legal status. Under EU law, this includes providing access to asylum procedures.
    FRA was a trainer during a training course on labour exploitation trafficking. The training addressed police officers and labour inspectors from different EU Member States.
    The European Migration Forum in Brussels from 28 to 29 November focused on the role of civil society in implementing the EU’s Migration and Asylum Pact. FRA spoke during a panel on the fundamental rights of migrants, together with the EU Asylum Agency.
    FRA’s handbook on European law relating to asylum, borders and immigration is now also available in Finnish, Latvian and Romanian.
    FRA took part in a joint meeting of three EU Asylum Agency (EUAA) networks working on asylum, reception and vulnerabilities in Malta on 19 November. The meeting focused on challenges and priorities in the implementation of the screening and border procedures.
    The European Guardianship Network met in Dublin from 13 to 14 November. They discussed the challenges and implementation of the EU’s Asylum and Migration Pact in the area of guardianship for unaccompanied children.
    Labour exploitation and abuse is all too common for many migrant workers in the EU. A new training manual from the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) provides workplace inspectors with tips, examples and exercises to better protect migrant workers’ rights.
    FRA held an information session for public authorities on FRA’s work to support the rights-compliant implementation of the EU’s Migration and Asylum Pact.
    FRA participated in the 4th EU-UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) strategic dialogue in Geneva on 21 October.
    FRA took part in a roundtable on the rights of third-country workers, organised by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Brussels on 18 October.
    FRA participated in the 11th expert meeting on children in migration, organised by the European Commission (DG Home) in Brussels on 25 October.
    FRA took part in the European conference on ‘EU Legislation after the Pact on Migration & Asylum’ on 17-18 October.
    On 10 October, FRA contributed to a discussion on the EU’s migration and asylum pact organised by the Council of Europe Special Representative of the Secretary General on Migration and Refugees. The meeting was part of the Council of Europe’s Coordination Group on Migration.
    FRA presented its updated guidance on monitoring fundamental rights during a Contact Committee meeting on the Asylum Procedure Regulation organised by the European Commission.
    FRA took part in three meetings on setting up the European Travel Information and Authorisation System, ETIAS. The meetings took place from 1 to 3 October in Warsaw.
    FRA presented to Polish stakeholders key aspects of the nine building blocks of its new guidance on independent monitoring mechanisms under the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum. The FRA guidance is based on and gives effect to the EU Screening Regulation which obliges Member States to set up such independent national mechanisms by mid-2026.
    FRA joined the second meeting of the Biometrics Cluster of the EU Innovation Hub for Internal Security. The cluster is composed of various EU Justice and Home Affairs Agencies, including FRA, and representatives of the European Commission.
    FRA presented key aspects of the nine building blocks of its new guidance on independent monitoring mechanisms under the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum to a European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI) working group.
    On 17 and 18 September, FRA attended a seminar organised by the UN Refugee Agency and the Czech Public Defender of Rights.
    On 18 September, FRA hosted an online roundtable to discuss the findings of its project on the fundamental rights implications of the EU’s Entry Exit System.
    New guidance from the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) suggests how EU countries should set up independent national mechanisms to monitor fundamental rights compliance during border screening and asylum procedures.