This World Refugee Day, asylum seekers and refugees in Europe face new challenges.
- The EU Pact on Asylum and Migration entered into force on 12 June 2026.
- Since its inception, the IRC and our civil society partners have been warning about the risks and lack of safeguards for people seeking safety in Europe
- This new regime will have very concrete consequences on the safety and access of asylum seekers and refugees.
- As it stands, the Pact lacks the robust safeguards and monitoring mechanisms needed to ensure that people's rights are upheld in practice.
Our concerns:
- A lack transparency around detention facilities and screening processes.
- New ‘safe country’ rules are likely to result in deportations being significantly ramped up.
- Mandatory ‘fast-track’ screening processes may result in children and others with specific vulnerabilities not receiving the care they are entitled to under EU and international law.
- There is no guarantee that people arriving at EU borders will be able to access timely legal information and support.
- EU states’ own National Implementation Plans may have failed to put in place the measures needed to prevent serious rights violations.
As we mark World Refugee Day, nearly 118 million people around the world are forcibly displaced. For many, distance from safety, from family, from a future, is the defining fact of their lives.
But humanity has the power to close that distance. One voice can turn division into solidarity. One policy can reunite separated families. One welcome can turn strangers into neighbors.
Explore the stories of International Rescue Committee staff and clients who’ve become that one person—each on a different journey, all closing the distance.
