Detention of Asylum Seekers in Europe: Analysis and Perspectives


Book Description

This volume presents a compilation of cross-disciplinary essays written by representatives of non-governmental and inter-governmental organisations, practising lawyers, academics, researchers and a psychiatrist, which reflect the heightened concern among European refugee and human rights organisations about the increasing practice of detaining asylum seekers. Topics explored include recent trends in western, central and eastern Europe; detention practice in the US, Canada and Australia; UNHCR's approach to detention of refugees and asylum seekers; and the mental health implications of detention from a psycho-medical viewpoint. In addition, the relevant European and UN legal instruments are analysed, and examples are given from the case law. The book is supplemented by detailed appendices setting out the texts of relevant international legal provisions, together with a number of other reference documents, including UNHCR's 1995 Guidelines on Detention and ECRE's 1996 and 1997 papers on detention and alternatives to detention. In addition to providing both a description of current practice and a theoretical, legal analysis of this type of administrative detention, this volume is intended to serve as a practical tool and source of reference for individuals and organisations engaged in defending the rights of asylum seekers today.




Detention of Asylum Seekers in Europe


Book Description

This volume presents a compilation of cross-disciplinary essays written by representatives of non-governmental and inter-governmental organisations, practising lawyers, academics, researchers and a psychiatrist, which reflect the heightened concern among European refugee and human rights organisations about the increasing practice of detaining asylum seekers. Topics explored include recent trends in western, central and eastern Europe; detention practice in the US, Canada and Australia; UNHCR's approach to detention of refugees and asylum seekers; and the mental health implications of detention from a psycho-medical viewpoint. In addition, the relevant European and UN legal instruments are analysed, and examples are given from the case law. The book is supplemented by detailed appendices setting out the texts of relevant international legal provisions, together with a number of other reference documents, including UNHCR's 1995 Guidelines on Detention and ECRE's 1996 and 1997 papers on detention and alternatives to detention. In addition to providing both a description of current practice and a theoretical, legal analysis of this type of administrative detention, this volume is intended to serve as a practical tool and source of reference for individuals and organisations engaged in defending the rights of asylum seekers today.




Immigration Detention


Book Description

The liberal legal ideal of protection of the individual against administrative detention without trial is embodied in the habeas corpus tradition. However, the use of detention to control immigration has gone from a wartime exception to normal practice, thus calling into question modern states' adherence to the rule of law. Daniel Wilsher traces how modern states have come to use long-term detention of immigrants without judicial control. He examines the wider emerging international human rights challenge presented by detention based upon protecting 'national sovereignty' in an age of global migration. He explores the vulnerable political status of immigrants and shows how attempts to close liberal societies can create 'unwanted persons' who are denied fundamental rights. To conclude, he proposes a set of standards to ensure that efforts to control migration, including the use of detention, conform to principles of law and uphold basic rights regardless of immigration status.




Seeking Asylum in the UK


Book Description

An examination of the emergence of the legal regime in the United Kingdom addressing refugees and asylum seekers.




The European Union Returns Directive and its Compatibility with International Human Rights Law


Book Description

The book undertakes a thorough human rights assessment of the EU Returns Directive. The overarching human rights framework, which circumscribes states prerogatives in the context of expulsion, builds upon obligations derived from the principle of non-refoulement; the right to life, respect for family and private life, effective remedy, basic social rights; the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment; and protection against arbitrary detention and collective expulsion. Based on this assessment, Majcher explores several protection gaps in the EU return policy which may result in violations of migrants’ rights and highlights how the provisions of the Directive should be implemented in line with member states’ human rights obligations. Informed by this assessment, the book discusses amendments to the Directive, proposed by the European Commission in September 2018. “By examining the European Union (EU) Returns Directive in the light of international and European human rights law, Izabella Majcher thoroughly explores and analyses the requirements the EU member states’ authorities must guarantee migrants in an irregular situation when they adopt and implement return decisions, entry bans, pre-removal detention, and removal.” Marie-Laure Basilien-Gainche, Professor of public international law, University Jean Moulin Lyon 3, Honorary member of the Institut universitaire de France




Capitalist Punishment


Book Description

Foreword: Sir Nigel Rodley




Asylum - A Right Denied


Book Description

In recent decades, asylum has emerged as a highly politicized European issue. The term ’asylum seeker’ has suffered a negative perception and has been associated with notions of illegality and criminality in mainstream media. These misconceptions have been supported by politicians as a distraction from economic and political uncertainties with the result that asylum seekers have been deprived of significant rights. This book examines the effect of recent attempts of harmonization on the identification and protection of refugees. It considers the extent of obligations on the state to admit and protect refugees and examines the 1951 Refugee Convention. The motivations of European legislators and legislation concerning asylum procedures and reception conditions are also analysed. Proposals and initiatives for refugee movements and determinations are examined and assessed. The author makes suggestions for better protection of refugees while responding to the security concerns of States, and questions whether European law and policy is doing enough to uphold the fundamental right to seek and enjoy asylum as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This book takes a bold look at a controversial issue and generates discussion for those involved in the fields of human rights, migrational and transnational studies, law and society and international law.




EU Justice and Home Affairs Law: EU Justice and Home Affairs Law


Book Description

EU Asylum and Immigration Law examines in detail the EU legislation and case law on the issues of immigration, asylum, visas and border controls, discussing the impact and ongoing development of EU law in these complex and controversial areas. The updated edition particularly covers new EU legislation, case law, and operational developments since 2010 on: internal border checks; external border controls; visa lists; litigation to obtain a visa; the Schengen Information System; the Visa Information System; family reunion; non-EU students; long-term residents; all aspects of refugee law (including the definition of 'refugee' and subsidiarity protection, the rights of asylum-seekers, and Member States' responsibility for asylum-seekers); and irregular migrants' rights. It also covers the institutional framework for these issues, the related human rights aspects, and the connections with other areas of EU law, like the free movement of EU citizens. Steve Peers' seminal text on the justice and home affairs law of the European Union appears in its fourth edition and is now available in two separate volumes covering asylum and immigration law, and criminal law, policing, and civil law, and as a two-volume set. It provides a detailed examination of EU legislation and case law on the issues of immigration, asylum, visas, border controls, and police and criminal law cooperation, discussing the impact and ongoing development of EU law. This edition is the definitive guide to these intricate, contentious, and fast-developing areas of EU law, and will be invaluable to scholars, practitioners, and students in the field.




Rights in Context


Book Description

This volume offers snapshots of how rights are debated and employed in public discourse to reshape legal and political relations at the beginning of the twenty-first century. It explores how rights are used to challenge the state of affairs by individuals and groups who seek justice, and the strategies devised to defy the existing rights by those who wish to recast the social and political order. This volume discusses rights, firstly, in relation to actual events and issues faced by policy-makers, courts, international agencies, or ordinary people. These range from the demands of minority groups living in the West to freely practice their culture and/or religion, to the threat of terrorism, the regulation of asylum rights, the investor's rights to disclosure and the rights of artists to freedom of expression. Secondly, rights discourse is examined in relation to attempts to redefine the form and content of rights, for example, by banning the right to wear religious symbols in public institutions or detaining terrorism suspects without trial. Thirdly, rights discourse is explored in connection with the attempts to develop new notions of rights, such as 'human security', which can more effectively respond to the challenges of late modern societies. Finally, the statuses of rights in sociological theory and socio-legal research are briefly discussed and analysed.




The Reception of Asylum Seekers under International Law


Book Description

Increasingly, European states are using policy on the reception of asylum seekers as an instrument of immigration control, eg by deterring the lodging of asylum applications, preventing integration into their societies and exercising a large degree of control over asylum seekers in order to facilitate expulsion. The European Union is currently engaged in a process of developing minimum conditions for the reception of asylum seekers, as part of a Common European Asylum System. This book critically examines the outcomes of the negotiation process on these minimum standards – Directive 2003/9/EC and Directive 2013/33/EU – in relation to international refugee law, international social security law and international human rights law. It presents a comprehensive analysis of state obligations that stem from these different fields of law with regard to asylum seekers' access to the labour market and social security benefits and compares them to the minimum standards developed in the European Union. To this end, it offers an in-depth study into the notion of non-discrimination on the basis of nationality in the field of social security and a detailed analysis of recent developments in the case law of the European Court on Human Rights on positive obligations in the socioeconomic sphere. It takes into account both the special characteristics of international legal obligations for states in the socioeconomic sphere and the legal consequences of the tentative legal status of asylum seekers. In addition, this book particularly examines how the instrumental use of social policy relates to international law.