Human Rights Challenges To European Migration Policy

Die EU ist zu einem machtvollen migrationspolitischen Akteur geworden. In der Folge gerat die europaische Migrationspolitik immer ofter in Konflikt mit ihrer Verpflichtung zur Wahrung der Menschenrechte. Der vorliegende Band benennt die dringlichsten Herausforderungen, entwickelt die einschlagigen rechtlichen Massstabe und unterbreitet Reformvorschlage.

The EU has become a powerful migration policy actor. As a result, European migration policy is increasingly coming into conflict with its obligation to protect human rights. This open access volume names the most urgent challenges, develops the relevant legal standards and makes proposals for reform.

Migration is one of the greatest societal challenges of our time. It has many facets, from mass movements to escape war, climate, or human rights abuses to the search for economic opportunity and prosperity. Illicit industries facilitate border crossings at the expense of safety, and governments face problems of processing and integrating new arrivals. These challenges have had a profound impact in Europe, calling into question central values of solidarity and human rights. This book analyses the law and policy of migration in the European Union (EU) and its relationship to understandings of the EU as an international human rights actor. It examines the role crisis plays in determining the priorities of migration policy and the impact political exigencies have on the rights of migrants. This book problematises the EU Area of Freedom, Security, and Justice as a ‘home.’ Taking a governmentality approach to critique discourse, the idea of a holistic approach is deconstructed to explore notions of wellness, resilience, responsibilisation and externalisaton. The EU’s pursuit of a holistic approach to managing migration in crisis indicates problems with EU solidarity, and the tactics employed to bring the crisis under control reveal security concerns that provoke questions about the EU as an international human rights actor. Both this framework for analysis and the empirical findings make a significant contribution to how the migration crisis can be theorised using adaptable conceptual tools. Under this form of governance, migration becomes a phenomenon to be treated so that its symptoms are ameliorated. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of the EU, migration, and human rights as well as policymakers, commentators, and activists in these areas.

The dynamics of migration in Europe have changed dramatically over the last few decades. Some countries, such as Ireland, Italy and Spain, are newcomers to an increasingly diverse Europe, having moved from being sources of emigration to destinations for migrants. Others such as France, Germany and the UK have many more years of experience with immigrants. Some of the biggest challenges facing Europe in the context of migration relate to irregular migration and integration by immigrants and refugees. What are the immigration needs of the different European countries? What are their labour needs? Can Europe’s existing population satisfy those labour needs? How can European countries work together to protect and improve the current refugee and asylum system? In the light of these pressing issues, it is vital that academics and NGOs work together to promote debate, research and the publication of reliable information about migration and refugees. To this end, academics, policy-makers and representatives of NGOs met at the University of Deusto in Bilbao, Spain (30 January-1 February 2003) to reflect on and debate the state of immigration in Europe. The results are published in this book.

Refugees and migration are not a new story in the history of humankind, but in the last few years, against a backdrop of huge numbers of migrants, especially from war-torn countries, they have again been a topic of intensive and contentious discussion in politics, the media and scientific publications. Two United Nations framework declarations on the sustainable development goals and on refugees and migrants adopted in 2016 have prompted the editors – who have a background in international criminology – to invite 60 contributors from different countries to contribute their expertise on civic education aspects of the refugee and migrant crisis in the Global North and South. Comprising 35 articles, this book presents an overview of the interdisciplinary issues involved in irregular migration around the world. It is intended for educationists, educators, diplomats, those working in mass media, decision-makers, criminologists and other specialists faced with questions involving refugees and migrants as well as those interested in improving the prospects of orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration in the context of promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development. Rather than a timeline for migration policies based on “now”, with states focusing on “stopping migration now”, “sending back migrants now” or “bringing in technicians or low-skilled migrant workers now”, there should be a long-term strategy for multicultural integration and economic assimilation. This book, prefaced by François Crépeau, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, and William Lacy Swing, Director-General of the International Organization for Migration, addresses the question of the rights and responsibilities involved in migration from the academic and practical perspectives of experts in the field of social sciences and welfare, and charts the way forward to 2030 and beyond, and also beyond the paradigm of political correctness.

This book provides innovative insights into one of the most controversial and important subjects of the 21st century: migration and social integration. Empirically, the volume offers comprehensive grounding in the relationships between migration, migration policies and social protection/inclusion in the enlarged European Union and its member states. Theoretically, the collection moves the debate on migration and integration policies onto new terrain. It explains how policies in this field are produced by institutional frameworks, political strategy, and contingent responses to events, but that these are themselves shaped by emotions, discourses, narratives, formal and informal aspects of governance. With contributions from leading international experts, the book can be used by academics and professionals as well as by undergraduate and postgraduate students.

This book presents an overview of European migration policy and the various institutional arrangements within and between various actors, such as local councils, local media, local economies, and local civil society initiatives. Both the role of local authorities in this policy field and their cooperation with civil society initiatives or networks are under-explored topics for research. In response, this book provides a range of detailed case studies focusing on the six main groups of national and administrative traditions in Europe: Germanic, Scandinavian, Napoleonic, Southeastern European, Central-Eastern European and Anglo-Saxon.

This collection of essays is the outcome of an international conference on Irregular Migration and Human Rights, which gathered together prominent scholars, policy-makers and practitioners working in the migration and human rights field. The objective of the book, in contrast to the prevailing political approach which focuses almost solely on prevention, is to discuss the human rights dimensions of irregular migration from theoretical, European and international perspectives.