Are Human Rights for Migrants? Critical Reflections on the Status of Irregular Migrants in Europe and the United States examines upon the possibilities and limitations which arise from approaching the situation of migrants in human rights terms.

This edited collection investigates where the European Convention on Human Rights as a living instrument stands on migration and the rights of migrants. This book offers a comprehensive analysis of cases brought by migrants in different stages of migration, covering the right to flee, who is entitled to enter and remain in Europe, and what treatment is owed to them when they come within the jurisdiction of a Council of Europe member state. As such, the book evaluates the case law of the European Convention on Human Rights concerning different categories of migrants including asylum seekers, irregular migrants, those who have migrated through domestic lawful routes, and those who are currently second or third generation migrants in Europe. The broad perspective adopted by the book allows for a systematic analysis of how and to what extent the Convention protects non-refoulement, migrant children, family rights of migrants, status rights of migrants, economic and social rights of migrants, as well as cultural and religious rights of migrants.

The book addresses the difficult issue of irregular migration in the European Union, through a juridical reconstruction of the phenomenon starting from its origins. The interesting aspect is the understanding part between Italy and Germany, to understand the phenomenon in two different member countries, in order to grasp the main critical issues and identify virtuous behaviors in order to create a system that is as homogenous as possible at the level of the European Union. The researches were carried out in Italy and in Germany above all, through the analysis of legislative documents and the doctrine on the subject.

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

An unprecedented number of people is currently on the move seeking refuge in Europe. Large parts of European societies respond with anxiety and mistrust to the influx of people. Nationalist, anti-migrant parties from Slovakia over Germany to the UK have gained increasing support among the electorate and challenge the political mainstream. Europe is struggling how to respond. While the search for solutions is ongoing one pattern seems to be emerging: Fortress Europe is in the making. Unfortunately, few of these discussions and measures consider the structural root causes and dynamics of migration, the motives of migrants or societal challenges more thoroughly. This book seeks to address this deficit. Taking migration and asylum policies as a starting point, it analyses the various dimensions underpinning migration. In doing so, it identifies why receiving countries are in many ways part of the problem. To eschew an overtly Euro-centric perspective and stimulate a debate between science and politics, it contains contributions by academics and practitioners alike from both shores of the Mediterranean.

At a time when issues concerning migration and the formation of diasporic communities have come to be critical for all European legal systems, this volume reflects, discusses and analyzes the questions raised by diasporas who have established themselves in Europe over more than fifty years of immigration and the challenges faced by legal systems in the light of continued migration. Contributors from a broad range of backgrounds address prominent issues ranging from legal pluralism among minorities, pressures on EU accession states, irregular migration, state control of family reunification and formation in light of human rights laws, challenges for citizenship and nationality laws and the implementation of visa rules and juxtaposed control zones. Besides the EU as a supranational legal order, the book contains discussion of conditions in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco, Greece, Turkey and Lithuania. This volume accompanies The Challenge of Asylum to Legal Systems and is the second book to emerge from the W.G Hart Legal Workshop held in 2004 at London's Institute for Advanced Legal Studies.

Since 1999, the EU has adopted legislation harmonizing many areas of immigration law, in particular rules on borders, visas, legal migration, and irregular migration. The much-enlarged and fully updated second edition of this book contains the text of and detailed commentary upon every significant measure in this field proposed or adopted up until 1 September 2011. It includes commentary on the EU visa code, the Schengen Borders Code, the Frontex Regulation, the Returns Directive, the Directives on family reunion, long-term residents and single permits for migrant workers, and many more besides. This is the essential guide for any lawyers, academics, civil servants, NGOs and students interested in this area of law.