Do you want to carry a temporary identity card in your pocket, live in temporary housing, or work on a temporary contract? Permanent insecurity is what that means: I know this both as an immigrant and as a researcher into the experiences of Syrian refugees living in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon.
European countries – overwhelmingly Poland – have accepted millions of displaced Ukrainians in the past two weeks. It’s a genuine, timely and much-needed humanitarian response and gesture of solidarity. On 4 March, the European Council (EC) agreed unanimously to introduce temporary protection for the masses fleeing the war.
This scheme has its legal basis in the 2001 Temporary Protection directive, drawn up in the aftermath of the Balkans conflicts of the 1990s to prepare an emergency response when a large number of asylum claims make individual processing under the 1951 Refugee Convention impossible.
