This volume traces the developments in the laws and practices of the European Union and five of its Member States (the United Kingdom, Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Italy) at two points in time: first at the time of the Gulf War following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 2000; secondly, following the terrorist attacks in the United States on 11 September 2001. The focus is on the legal status of immigrants and asylum seekers and how that legal status is being modified on grounds of security-related measures adopted over a period of about ten years. Particularly, the question is whether and how far situations have come into existence, which could be considered to be in conflict with fundamental principles of human rights.

Anneliese Baldaccini is a Committee Specialist for the House of Lords European Union Committee. She was previously Human Rights Legal Officer for JUSTICE, the British section of the International Commission of Jurists, working on UK and EU asylum law and policy. She is the author of Asylum Support: A practitioners' guide to the EU Reception Directive (Justice, 2005), and of various reports and articles in the field of asylum, immigration and non-discrimination.
Elspeth Guild is Professor of European Migration Law at the University of Nijmegen, Netherlands, and also a partner at the London law firm Kingsley Napley. She is the author of a number of books on the development of citizenship, immigration and asylum law at the European and national levels. She lectures widely in Europe on the subject.