JRS and its partners have long supported and accompanied vulnerable migrants along Europe’s borders. The Protection at the External Borders project monitored human rights violations and documented findings and policy recommendations in the report Forgotten at the Gates of Europe.

Forgotten at the Gates of Europe provides a picture of how migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees experience Europe’s borders – their journey, the obstacles they face at the border and the continued difficulties they face once arrived.

The report shows that while the emergency at Europe’s borders may be resolved in terms of decreased arrivals, the human rights emergency is still with us. People are still arriving at the gates of Europe, and the obstacles they face have become worse.

These findings lead us to the inevitable conclusion that the EU’s asylum and migration policies are not designed to save lives, but to prevent more people from coming. Moreover, by continuing to implement highly dysfunctional systems, such as the Dublin Regulation, EU policymakers also make it difficult for asylum seekers to achieve protection and a legal status once they have arrived.