Temporary Protection System in a Global Perspective and the Displaced from Ukraine in Vienna

The implementation of temporary protection (TP), following the first activation of the Directive 2001/55/EC in the context of the Russian all-out war on Ukraine, has been widely presented as a beneficial framework of protection for displaced people due to the collective granting procedure, access to the labor market, and mobility both within the EU and with the country of origin. Thus, TP was positively contrasted with the situation and experiences of people going through the asylum procedure and presented as a more benevolent and accommodating solution. However, from the beginning, the EU regime of TP and its specific implementation in the contexts of individual nation-states have been defined by a number of contradictions and dilemmas that shaped organizational responses to the mass influx, legal statuses, and experiences of the Ukrainian displaced. The standards of TP were less specified and not guaranteed through international agreements, which makes the TP regime particularly prone to national and regional legal (re-)interpretations and political trade-offs, leaving decisions at the discretion of nation-states. The limited protection period and the absence of an established path to permanent forms of residence rendered the situation of the Ukrainian displaced precarious. The paper relies on research on the situation of the Ukrainian displaced in Vienna conducted during 2022-2023. We situate our findings in the context of the proliferation of temporary protection frameworks in other historical periods (e.g., the Yugoslav wars) and regions (Turkey, Latin America). Subsequently, we critically examine the entanglement of the temporary protection regimes with the global fragmentation and erosion of international protection.