Call for Papers: Special Issue of Laws ‘Repelling Asylum-Seekers in Europe? Asylum-Seekers as an “Anomaly” in EU and UK Migration Laws and Policies’
Deadline for submission – Saturday 28 February 2026
Dear Colleagues,
The spontaneous arrival of asylum seekers at host states’ borders has long embodied the refugee experience. Yet, this is precisely the lived experience that the EU (and its Member States) and the UK are increasingly rejecting and negating. Their migration laws and policies no longer accept that most asylum-seekers have no choice but to present themselves ‘uninvited’ at Europe’s borders. Against this backdrop, this Special Issue will take the refugee experience as its starting point to deepen understandings of and challenge Europe’s acute problematising of asylum-seekers and asylum-seeking on its shores.
The aims of this Special Issue are twofold:
- Explore the reconstruction of asylum seekers as an ‘anomaly’ in EU and UK migration laws and policies;
- Ask whether we are witnessing the end of asylum-seeking in Europe.
This Special Issue falls within the scope of Laws. It also responds to the journal’s statement that ‘contributions that bridge traditional boundaries and challenge injustices are particularly welcome’.
Topics of interest include the following:
- Refugee externalisation laws and policies in Europe;
- Containment laws and policies;
- Push-backs;
- Border violence;
- The illegalisation of asylum seekers;
- Non-entry regimes;
- Off-shoring of asylum procedures;
- Responsibility sharing;
- Safe and legal paths for asylum seekers and refugees;
- Aspects of asylum procedures.
Contributions may focus on the EU, individual EU Member States and/or the UK and use a range of methodological approaches.
If you are interested in contributing to the Special Issue, please send me an email (sylvie.da-lomba@strath.ac.uk).
I look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Sylvie Da Lomba
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Laws is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI’s English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Find more information here: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/laws/special_issues/D0PSD95XYT