Hypotesis: The International Community As Whole Has A Role To Play in
Hypotesis: The International Community As Whole Has A Role To Play in
The Member States of European Union should be held accountable for the breach of
human rights following the death of thousands of immigrants on the Mediterranean Sea
over the last eighteen months.
Your paper should present a hypothesis, which you should go on to support looking at the
international and European legislation (and immigration policies) and legal remedies
available.
declared dead of missing, and 1015078 immigrants and asylum seekers crossed the
sea in 2015.
Irregular migration is largely a product of the late 20 th century, reflecting the
desire of certain states to impose their order on the movement of people across
borders. Irregular migrations is, currently at least, little represented in international
law. The irregular migrant, like the regular migrant, is not defined by international
law other than by reference to his or her common humanity. Nor does international
law prescribe what states shall do (opposed to what they may not do), when
confronting this product of their own idiosyncratic view of the migrant on the
move. More particularly, there is a solid legal framework governing the actions of
states in and outside their territory which is not supplanted by the fact that control
of migration- the core decisions about entry, residence and removal falls within
the sovereign competence of the state.
International law is always there, even though some states may seek to
displace it, to build the notion of irregular status into some sort of foundational
reason or excuse for denying to one particular group the rights to which we are all
entitled by virtue of our common humanity. A gap nonetheless remains between
acceptance of a human rights-based approach and the reality for todays migrants,
ant it will need to be bridged by the way of effective implementation of the
applicable law. The framework of international law and obligation implies more
than the passive avoidance of direct harm, and demands an active protection role
one in which responsible states are obliged to ensure that those over whom they do
or may be expected to exercise jurisdiction and control are effectively protected as
consequence.
EU governments, largely acting on proposals from the European Comission,
are taking or have pledged to take a number of laudable steps to address various
aspects of the refugee crisis. After some efforts to increase the focus on migrants
and asylum seekers inside the EU, the focus of many EU governments now
appears to have shifted decisively back to efforts aimed at preventing or
including for Syrians currently the majority of those entering Europe as refugees
could allievate much of the current crisis. It could also enable better management
of entry and movement and could serve as a pilot for other nationalities.
This can be done in multiple ways, including by ensuring that protectionsensitive entry systems are in place- measures whereby officials protecting EU
borders are able to identify people who may be in need of international protection
and grant them entry in order to access the asylum system. Greater use could also
be made of embassy processing in countries such as Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan
to issue Humanitarian visas or visas for family reunification to permit migrants to
travel to specific EU countries and seek protection there (although embassies will
require extra capacity to process larger numbers).
If those intercepted or rescued at sea are not disembarked in European space,
then effective, open and internationally supervised agreements will be essential to
ensure their landing and accommodation in a place of safety, their treatment and
protection in accordance with the applicable international and European standards,
and solution appropriate to individual circumstances, such as asylum,
resettlements, facilitated third-country migration or return in safety and dignity
countries, asylum seekers and migrants in sub-optimal conditions ought never been
on Europes agenda.
Precedents for both exist. For example, both Ireland and Switzerland
launched family reunification programs for Syrians in 2013 with Irelands shortterm program granting visas to 111 people, while Swiss programme has granted
nearly 4700 visas as of November 2015. Improved access to family reunification
mechanisms for other nationalities is also needed. Precedents also exist for the
granting of humanitarian visas in 15 other EU states, including in France, which
has granted 1880 asylum visas for Syrians since 2012. Germany has also pledged
18500 places through an individual possibility of integration for refugees. Better
funding support for asylum systems will reduce states incentive to resort to
irregular and illegal practices at borders to keep asylum seekers out. What is
perhaps missing most is political leadership and frank dialogue among European
leaders about how best to respond to the needs of desperate people who will not be
deterred by more fences or abuses at the borders.
2.
3.
Discuss the following statement:
International public law can only really become effective when its
enforcement mechanisms become stronger and State players are truly on
equal standing.