Welcome to the European Parliamentary Research Service Podcasts.

In this podcast, we'll introduce you to the European Union Agency for Asylum, formerly known as IASO.

We'll look at its changing role and extended powers to improve asylum management in Europe.

Want to know more? Stay with us.

While we are nowhere near the numbers of asylum applications at the peak of the migration crisis in 2015,

thousands of migrants continue to embark on dangerous journeys to apply for asylum in the EU.

Some flee their homelands for fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality,

membership of a particular social group or political opinion. Others are looking for a better life.

Establishing who belongs to which category is a complex task for national authorities

with very different outcomes for applicants.

While the international human rights law principle of non-refulment

means that asylum seekers cannot be refused entry,

the Schengen Borders Code provides for the return of irregular migrants who are considered not to be in need of international protection.

To harmonise the treatment of asylum seekers throughout the EU, the common European asylum system was set up in 1999

to guarantee the same procedures to either grant or withdraw international protection.

Under this system, national border authorities are obliged to screen and fingerprint all migrants

crossing an EU border irregularly and to channel them into the appropriate procedure, either

asylum or return. They are supported by Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard agency,

which deploys offices to help secure the EU's borders and manage migration flows.

The European Asylum Support Office, known as IASO, was set up in 2010 to provide training,

develop practical cooperation between national authorities in asylum matters,

and to help them fulfil their obligations under the Common European Asylum System.

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