Forum Editorial: Under Scrutiny – Safe Country Regimes in Global Asylum Governance

The concept of a ‘safe country’, whether as a safe third country, safe country of origin, or first country of asylum, has gained prominence in migration management, particularly within the context of externalised asylum processing and returns. This has been accompanied by ongoing disputes over disembarkation to a ‘place of safety’ following rescue or interception at sea. The ‘safe country’ concept and the lawfulness of accompanying practices remain highly controversial under international law.

This blog forum problematises these discussions from a multi-disciplinary perspective by moving beyond the question of whether any particular country is safe, and questioning the inherent lawfulness and legitimacy of the safe country concept and related policies as a whole. The forum presents a broader assessment of the concept of “safety” in the context of migration and asylum cooperation and features novel conceptual arguments and new ways of understanding safe country practices and the implementation of the concept in different jurisdictions around the world.