During the refugee crisis in 2015 a new approach of swift migration management developed in Italy and Greece, the so called hotspot approach. The basis of the approach is swift identification, registration and fingerprinting of the incoming migrants for the purpose of redirecting them either to the asylum procedure, returns procedure or relocation procedure.
Although designed as a temporary measure, used only until the emergency situation settles down, the approach is implemented as a permanent mechanism for identification and registration of migrants which helped the European union (hereinafter: the EU) achieve compliance from Italy and Greece, already the most burdened states, with their obligation to identify all incoming migrants. Serious human rights violations, obstruction of access to the asylum procedure and discrimination based on nationality occur during the identification process depriving certain groups of migrants of their right to asylum. Violations of the principle of non-refoulment and prohibition of collective expulsions occur during the returns procedures, while relocation procedures are not carried out in the hotspots.
The use of the hotspot approach did not relieve the pressure on Italy and Greece nor improve the position of migrants coming to Europe. Systematic problems are largely the result of lack of legal framework and political will and should therefore be addressed with a unified regulation and the end of controversial practices. Since the emergency situation, on which the approach is based, can be largely predicted by observing the current social and political trends the main focus of the approach should be providing international protection instead of control of the EU external borders.
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