This paper records Amnesty International’s chief concerns about moves towards systematic cooperation among European states in matters of asylum policy and immigration. It concentrates on Western Europe, focusing on the arrangements currently being made by member states of the European Communities to coordinate their asylum policies. These arrangements are set out in three intergovernmental treaties discussed here: the Convention determining the state responsible for examining an asylum request (“Dublin Convention”), the draft Convention on the crossing of external borders and the Schengen Supplementary Agreement. It goes on to specify safeguards to be included in refugee determination procedures. A call for a full public discussion of refugee policy concludes the report.
