Film Library

Dublin regulation vs Temporary Protection Directive (TPD): How the EU changed asylum for Ukrainians

Since 2003, the EU has required asylum seekers to apply for protection in the member state they first entered. This policy is widely known as the Dublin Agreement or Dublin Regulation. But since March 2022 – in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine – the EU activated the use of a new policy called the Temporary Protection Directive or TPD which, on the surface, seems to both provide greater protection for potential asylum seekers and better distributes the responsibility of asylum registrations across the EU. But does that include non-Ukrainians, and what's the reality of the differing protocols for those fleeing conflict and persecution? In the first of our explainer series, Sofia Kuan looks at the differences and dilemmas of the two systems.