ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses the individual right of asylum, particularly as it relates to the European Union (EU). From the signing of the Treaty of Maastricht the EU has been heedful of an issue that has gained increasing importance in international law, even though as an organisation it is not concerned with all the forms of asylum described so far, only the narrower version based on considerations of a humanitarian nature. In other words, the body of laws governing the EU deals only with the 'new' types of asylum and is in no way concerned with the traditional concept of political asylum in its various strands of territorial, diplomatic and other. However, within the genus it may be useful to distinguish two species that differ according to whether the conditions of access to protection are laid down in the Geneva Convention.
