The Network convenes, at regular intervals, a Congress to contribute to the emergence of a community of researchers specialised in immigration and asylum law at European level. Rather than multiplying the new initiatives, the objective of the Network is to give a European dimension to existing activities (research, conferences, publications) by strengthening the contacts between persons and institutions involved within the European Community.

After a first edition devoted to immigration policy, the second Congress aims at evaluating in a prospective manner the potential offered by the new legal basis introduced into the EC Treaty (Article 63) by the Treaty of Amsterdam. The proposals for directive and regulation adopted by the European Commission as well as the progress of the work undertaken by the Council of Ministers in the field will be analysed in view of the emergence of a European branch of refugee law. Thus, the Congress will focus on substantive law rather than on institutional matters. The standards set by the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights will form an integral part of the Congress.