Introduction

All European1 states have the legal right to grant asylum but, with the single exception of Germany,2 are under no obligation to do so. Asylum is a right of states, not of individuals, whose only right is to request and to enjoy asylum once it is granted (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 14). And yet, in spite of the degree of control that states such as Britain have over the granting of asylum, there has been growing concern on the part of European states that this right has become a costly liability. The number of people applying for asylum in Europe has been increasing for some time, but in the years after 1989 the rate of increase accelerated (Castles and Davidson 2000). To a large extent this was due to the war in Yugoslavia, which sent millions fleeing northwards across borders that had been opened following the collapse of the Soviet Union. To these can be added people fleeing other upheavals in Eastern Europe and further afield, such as the Horn of Africa. The changing situation in Eastern Europe coincided with the accelerating drive to create a Europe without internal frontiers. It was this transformation that was seen by a number of states as necessitating the creation of strong external borders.