Abstract
People fleeing persecution or searching for a better future are confronted with increasing difficulties when they try to enter Europe. Fortified borders, operations at the high seas, and cooperation agreements with North-African transit States all aim at preventing irregular migrants from setting a foot on the territory of European destination States. However, these endeavours to intercept unwanted migrants find their limits in human rights guarantees enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights. Besides the principle of non-refoulement, the prohibition of collective expulsion has gained momentum in recent years.
The purpose of the following contribution is to analyze the interpretation of these guarantees in the recent case law of the European Court of Human Rights. To this end, firstly the concept of jurisdiction and its application in cases of externalized immigration control shall be discussed. Subsequently, it will be shown how the Court interprets and applies the relevant substantive guarantees. Following the most important strands of the case law, the focus will be on the principle of non-refoulement and the prohibition of collective expulsion.
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References
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Czech, P. (2022). Fundamental Rights in the Context of Externalized Immigration Control. In: Cremades, J., Hermida, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Contemporary Constitutionalism. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31739-7_189-1
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