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The recent tragic events unfolding in the Mediterranean Sea are reminders of the need for better functioning European Asylum Policies. The current system has at its heart the Dublin III Regulation, which establishes the criteria to determine the Member State responsible for examining each asylum claim. It functions on the basis of a geographical mechanism: the state where the asylum seeker firstly lodged his or her asylum request is the one considered responsible. If the asylum seeker travels to another country, the latter can send him or her back to the first country where he or she entered Europe. The purpose of this work is to discuss and analyze the effects that these transfers have in the Member States and to assess if such transfers put a greater responsibility on certain countries. In order to do this, the work analyses the historical evolution of the Dublin System and the critiques moved against it. This is discussed in the framework of the current situation in the Mediterranean. Case law and statistics are used in the work to verify the main hypothesis.

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Virginia Ottolina works at the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. She graduated from the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna and the University of Vienna where she obtained a Master of Advanced International Studies and she holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Milan.

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