Introduction

The Russian invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February 2022 and led to large-scale displaced persons. To protect Ukraine people fleeing the invasion, the Council unanimously adopted the Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/382 of 4 March 2022  giving those fleeing war in Ukraine the right to temporary protection. This was the first time the Council Directive 2001/55/EC (Temporary Protection Directive) has been activated, in other words, implemented to respond to the large-scale arrival of displaced persons fleeing a conflict zone. The Temporary Protection Directive applies to all EU Member States except Denmark, which has nevertheless introduced a similar national temporary protection scheme by adopting the Special Act on Temporary Residence Permit for Persons Displaced from Ukraine. Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland have introduced similar national temporary protection schemes as well.  As of 1 October 2022, according to the EUAA, almost 4,4 million persons fleeing Ukraine have registered for temporary protection in the 29 EU+ countries since the beginning of the Russian invasion in Ukraine.

In this contribution, I update my analysis and findings in an earlier post published in EU Immigration and Asylum Law and Policy in light of recent developments and figures and attempt to elaborate on reasons that the Temporary Protection Directive, as opposed to its two-decade of existence, implemented for the first time in 2022 to respond to large scale displacement from Ukraine.

Author: Meltem Ineli Ciger.

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