Fundamental Rights Challenges in Border Controls and Expulsion of Irregular Immigrants in the European Union


Book Description

This edited volume examines the extent to which the various authorities and actors currently performing border management and expulsion-related tasks are subject to accountability mechanisms capable of delivering effective remedies and justice for abuses suffered by migrants and asylum seekers. Member states of the European Union and State Parties to the Council of Europe are under the obligation to establish complaint mechanisms allowing immigrants and/or asylum seekers to seek effective remedies in cases where their rights are violated. This book sheds light on the complaint bodies and procedures existing and available in Austria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Poland, and Romania. It assesses their role in overseeing, investigating, and redressing cases of human rights violations deriving from violent border and immigration management practices, and expedited expulsion procedures. This book therefore provides an assessment of the practical, legal, and procedural challenges that affect the possibility to lodge complaints and access remedies for human rights violations suffered at the hands of the law enforcement authorities and other security actors operating at land, air, and sea borders, or participating in expulsions procedures – in particular, joint return flights. The volume will be of key interest to students, scholars, and practitioners working on human rights, migration and borders, international law, European law and security studies, EU politics, and more broadly, international relations.




Complaint Mechanisms in Border Management and Expulsion Operations in Europe


Book Description

Border control, surveillance operations and expulsion of irregular immigrants--particularly through return flights--can pose serious human rights challenges. This book, prepared by the Brussels-based think tank Centre for European Policy Studies, examines whether Europe is properly equipped to ensure effective access to remedies for alleged rights violations or possible abuses of force against immigrants and asylum seekers. It sheds light on the fragmentation of the human rights accountability regimes and shows that while the 'law on the books' may formally recognise a set of fundamental rights for immigrants and asylum seekers, the 'law in practice' does not necessarily offer adequate complaint mechanisms in many European countries. Finally, the book sets out a number of policy recommendations, paying particular attention to addressing human rights accountability issues in the context of activities undertaken by the new European Border and Coast Guard (Frontex).




Study on Obstacles to Effective Access of Irregular Migrants to Minimum Social Rights


Book Description

This publication examines the minimum level of social rights which illegal migrants are entitled to in Council of Europe countries, as well as obstacles to access. This is done in the light of the Council of Europe's concern to promote human rights, maintain social cohesion and prevent racism and xenophobia, in counterbalance to the more restrictive approach to illegal migration adopted by the EU. Topics covered are rights in relation to housing, education, social security, health, social and welfare services, fair employment conditions and residence rights.




Migrants with Irregular Status in Europe


Book Description

This open access book explores the conceptual challenges posed by the presence of migrants with irregular immigration status in Europe and the evolving policy responses at European, national and municipal level. It addresses the conceptual and policy issues raised, post-entry, by this particular section of the migrant population. Drawing on evidence from different parts of Europe, the book takes the reader through philosophical and ethical dilemmas, legal and sociological analysis to questions of public policy and governance before addressing the concrete ways in which those questions are posed in current policy agendas from the international to the local level. As such this book is a valuable read to researchers, practitioners and policy makers as well as to students working on irregular migration in Europe in a comparative and/or country based perspective.




REGINE - Regularisations in Europe


Book Description

REGINE is a research project on regularisation practices in the European Union. The aim of the project is to provide a thorough mapping of practices relating to the regularisation of third country nationals illegally resident in EU Member States. Two additional non-EU countries - Switzerland and the US - will also be covered to gain insights in regularisation practices and the impact of regularisations elsewhere. In examining regularisation practices, the project also investigates the relationship of regularisation policies to the overall migration policy framework, including to protection issues and refugee policies. Moreover, the project examines the political position of different stakeholders towards regularisation policies on the national level. Finally, the project examines potential options for policies on regularisation on the European level, incorporating Member States as well as other stakeholders' views on possible instruments on the European level.




Fundamental Rights Challenges


Book Description

This book presents a comprehensive review of fundamental rights issues that are currently in the spotlight. The first part explores why the question of whether or not fundamental rights have horizontal effect is a topic of endless debate. The second part focuses on human rights and the rule of law. It begins by arguing that the hitherto valid model of the rule of law is now outdated, and then goes on to outline the importance of the judicial dimension in countering threats to the independence of the judiciary. Lastly, the third part addresses a classic issue in the field of human rights: states’ margin of appreciation, highlighting two aspects: (i) the elements used by the ECJ to determine the scope of the margin of appreciation, which varies depending on the subject matter, the nature of the right in question, as well as the severity and the purpose of the interference; and (ii) the margin of appreciation enjoyed by national courts when interpreting the law. Exploring current issues concerning a topic of eternal interest, the book will appeal to scholars and practitioners alike. Written by formidable intellectual talents, committed to the study of fundamental rights, it rigorously analyses the most recent judgments of both the ECJ and the ECHR.




Collective Securitisation and Security Governance in the European Union


Book Description

Collective Securitisation and Security Governance in the European Union presents an integrated theory of collective securitisation – a theoretical foundation for explaining how the process of collective securitisation sustains and makes effective an identifiable system of regional security governance. The volume demonstrates the empirical utility of collective securitisation in the EU security space through a set of structured case studies focusing on the collective securitisation of terrorism, cyberspace, migration, energy, health and climate change. The contributions to this collection address three questions: Under what conditions does collective securitisation occur? How does collective securitisation affect the scope and domains of EU security governance? And how does collective securitisation explain the emergence of the EU system of security governance? This volume breaks new ground in the field of EU security studies and provides a theoretical orientation that contributes to our understanding of how and why the EU has developed as a security actor in the 21st century. Developing and testing the theory of collective securitisation with reference to some of the most pressing contemporary security issues, Collective Securitisation and Security Governance in the European Union will be of great interest to scholars of the European Union and Security Studies. The chapters were originally published as a special issue of West European Politics.




The Human Rights of Migrants


Book Description

Includes statistics.




Access to Justice for Migrants and Asylum Seekers in Europe


Book Description

Further to the 28th Conference of European Ministers of Justice (Lanzarote, Spain, 25-26 October 2007), the Council of Europe has continued working on access to justice for migrants and asylum seekers. This publication contains an assessment of the situation faced by this vulnerable category of persons in accessing justice. It deals in particular with the identification of measures - both existing and new - for facilitating and ensuring such access for these people.




The Criminalisation of Migration in Europe


Book Description

This is the first monograph providing a comprehensive legal analysis of the criminalisation of migration in Europe. The book puts forward a definition of the criminalisation of migration as the three-fold process whereby migration management takes place via the adoption of substantive criminal law, via recourse to traditional criminal law enforcement mechanisms including surveillance and detention, and via the development of mechanisms of prevention and pre-emption. The book provides a typology of criminalisation of migration, structured on the basis of the three stages of the migrant experience: criminalisation before entry (examining criminalisation in the context of extraterritorial immigration control, delegation and privatisation in immigration control and the securitisation of migration); criminalisation during stay (examining how substantive criminal law is used to regulate migration in the territory); and criminalisation after entry and towards removal (examining efforts to exclude and remove migrants from the territory and jurisdiction of EU Member States and criminalisation through detention). The analysis focuses on the impact of the criminalisation of migration on human rights and the rule of law, and it highlights how European Union law (through the application of both the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and general principles of EU law) and ECHR law may contribute towards achieving decriminalisation of migration in Europe.