Refugees in containment: patterns of (im)mobility and the right of asylum at the southern border

Iker Barbero, profesor agregado, Universidad del País Vasco-Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV-EHU). Iker.barbero@ehu.eus. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5450-3776

Spaces for containing migrants arriving in Spain have proliferated, whether closed ­­– Foreigner Internment Centres (CIE, in its Spanish acronym) and Centres for Temporary Assistance to Foreigners (CATE) – or semi-open – Temporary Stay Centres for Immigrants (CETI). Asylum application procedures and government practice in each of these settings mean that significant geographical and national differences exist in terms of numbers of requests for international protection. Based on a quantitative, normative and documentary analysis of the requests made in recent years, above all at the Spanish southern border, it is argued that via the containment/confinement mechanisms in place the current border control system conditions asylum applications in order to accelerate them when the government seeks immediate deportation, to discourage their formalisation or transfer to another European state.

Keywords: containment spaces, international protection, migrants in transit, borders, COVID-19, southern border, Spain

How to cite this article:  Barbero, Iker. «Refugiados en contención: lógicas de (in)movilidad en materia de derecho de asilo en la Frontera Sur». Revista CIDOB d’Afers Internacionals, n.º 129 (diciembre de 2021), p. 179-202. DOI: doi.org/10.24241/rcai.2021.129.3.179

Revista CIDOB d’Afers Internacionals n.º 129, p. 179-202
Quadrimestral (October-December 2021)
ISSN:1133-6595 | E-ISSN:2013-035X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24241/rcai.2021.129.3.179

Reception date: 06.04.21 ; Acceptance date: 02.09.21

>> The full text articles are available in Spanish language, although in this issue some of them are also available in English language.