Refugees and asylum seekers policies of European Union inthe context of Refugee Law

Violence, cruelty and violations of human rights which arise from national/international conflicts, particularly two World Wars took place in 20. century, led millions of people to abandon their homes and countries. When international refugee movements reached a substantive level United Nations decided to act. The Geneva Convention in 1951 and The New York Protocol in 1967, which are acknowledged as basic documents of refugee law, came into force as a result of United Nation's work. Those documents generally regulate the basis of the refugee status and obliges the contracting states. European Union countries, with their developed economies and high living standards, have always been a center of attraction for refugee and asylum seekers movements. European Union tried to create "a common asylum system" in order to deal with the refugees and with the regulations in this framework the European Union tried to keep refugees out of it's borders as much as possible. However, the issue of asylum became a matter of sovereignty and security for member states and therefore they enforced different asylum policies which led "common asylum system" to fail to be applicated properly. The main aim of this work is to examine the European Union refugee regulations within the framework of international refugee law regulations and principles, reflection of these regulations in practice and the violations.