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The Externalisation of EU Migration Policies: The Implications Arising from the Transfer of Responsibilities to Third Countries

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The Evolving Nature of EU External Relations Law

Abstract

The EU and its Member States have resorted very often to the externalisation of migration policies with the aim of preventing the access of irregular migrants and persons in need of international protection to the territory of the Member States. The transfer of responsibilities to third countries in the management of migration does not exonerate the EU and its Member States from the infringements of human rights that might take place on the territory of third countries. The aim of this chapter is to analyse the implications arising from the transfer of responsibilities to third countries in the management of migration and, in particular, the cooperation developed with Libya in recent years.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See Lavanex 2010, p. 329; Rijpma 2017, p. 1; Santos Vara 2020, p. 17; Santos Vara and Pascual Matellán 2020, p. 163.

  2. 2.

    Frelick et al. 2016, p. 193.

  3. 3.

    See Guiraudon 2003, p. 191. Mitsilegas 2019, p. 290.

  4. 4.

    See González Vega 2019, p. 76.

  5. 5.

    See Mitsilegas 2019, p. 294; Santos Vara 2020, p. 49.

  6. 6.

    See Santos Vara 2019, p. 21.

  7. 7.

    Mangas Martín 2012, p. 646.

  8. 8.

    Parliamentary Assembly Council of Europe 2018; see Atak and Crépeau 2014, p. 591.

  9. 9.

    The EU’s extensive cooperation programmes in Libya (of in total €467 million) are continuing despite the security situation, and new programmes have been adopted in the last months of 2019 by the EU Trust Fund for Africa. See European Commission, Progress report on the Implementation of the European Agenda on Migration, COM (2019) 481 final, 16 October 2019.

  10. 10.

    Council Decision 2013/233/CFSP of 22 May 2013 on the European Union Integrated Border Management Assistance Mission in Libya (EUBAM Libya), OJ L 138, 24 May 2013, p. 15.

  11. 11.

    Council Decision 2015/778 of 18 May 2015 on a European Union military operation in the Southern Central Mediterranean (EUNAVFOR MED), OJ L 122, 19 May 2015, p. 31.

  12. 12.

    Council Decision 2013/233/CFSP, above n. 10, Article 2.

  13. 13.

    Council Decision 2015/778 of 18 May 2015, above n. 10.

  14. 14.

    Council Decision 2016/993 of 20 June 2016 amending Decision (CFSP) 2015/778 on a European Union military operation in the Southern Central Mediterranean (EUNAVFOR MED operation SOPHIA), OJ L 162, 21 June 2016, p. 18. See also UNSC 2011; UNSC 2016.

  15. 15.

    See Mitsilegas 2019, p. 301.

  16. 16.

    See Estrada-Canamares 2015, p. 181; Moreno-Lax and Papastavridis 2016.

  17. 17.

    European Union Committee, 2nd Report of Session 2017–19, HL Paper 5, 12 July 2017.

  18. 18.

    Council of Ministers, EUNAVFOR MED Operation Sophia: Mandate extended until 30 September 2019, 29 March 2019.

  19. 19.

    EU Council 2017.

  20. 20.

    Joint Statement “Addressing the Challenge of Migration and Asylum”, Paris, 28 August 2017.

  21. 21.

    European Council Conclusions, 28 June 2018.

  22. 22.

    Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the fields of Development, the Fight against Illegal Immigration, Human Trafficking and Fuel Smuggling and on reinforcing the Security of Borders between the State of Libya and the Italian Republic (MoU) 2 February 2017. Italy has concluded similar arrangements in the past with Libya that led to a very intense cooperation on migration between both countries. However, the cooperation was suspended as a result of the Hirsi Jamaa case. Italy was condemned by the European Court of Human Rights for infringing the principle of non-refoulement (ECtHR, Hirsi Jamaa and Others v. Italy, Judgment (Grand Chamber), 23 February 2012, App. No. 27765/09.

  23. 23.

    MoU, above n.22, Article 1.

  24. 24.

    Ibid., Article 3.

  25. 25.

    Palm 2017, p. 3. There is only one reference to human obligations in Article 5. It says that “le Parti si impegnano ad interpretare e applicare il presente Memorandum nel rispetto degli obblighi internazionali e degli accordi sui diritti umani di cui i due Paesi siano parte”.

  26. 26.

    Palm 2017, p. 3; Skordas 2018, p. 1.

  27. 27.

    Italy has supported the establishment of a rescue coordination centre in Libya and has donated vessels to the Libyan coast guards, see Camera dei Deputati [Italian Chamber of Deputies] 2018.

  28. 28.

    See Riegert 2019.

  29. 29.

    Ministero dell’Interno 2017. See Sánchez Legido 2018, p. 1; Santos Vara 2020, p. 54.

  30. 30.

    Walsh and Horowitz (2018) Italy, Going It Alone, Stalls the Flow of Migrants. But at What Cost? https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/17/world/europe/italy-libya-migrant-crisis.html Accessed 4 July 2020; Skordas 2018.

  31. 31.

    UNSC 2018; UN Support Mission in Libya 2018; Amnesty International 2019; Human Rights Watch 2019.

  32. 32.

    Parliamentary Assembly Council of Europe 2018, above n. 8.

  33. 33.

    UN Support Mission in Libya 2019.

  34. 34.

    Palm 2017, p. 3; Santos Vara 2020, p. 56.

  35. 35.

    Amnesty International 2014: “the demands being placed on third countries to prevent irregular departures to Europe put refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants in those countries at risk of prolonged and arbitrary detention, refoulement, and ill-treatment”.

  36. 36.

    See Tribunale di Trapani, Sentenza a Seguito di Giudizio Abbreviato, 23 May 2019.

  37. 37.

    Parliamentary Assembly Council of Europe 2018, above n. 8.

  38. 38.

    Palm 2017, p. 3.

  39. 39.

    See Neville and Rigon 2016, p. 26; Santos Vara 2018, p. 159; Santos Vara 2020, p. 64; Tsourdi 2016, p. 997.

  40. 40.

    European Commission, Towards more accessible, equitable and managed asylum systems, COM (2003) 315 final, 3 June 2003.

  41. 41.

    UK Government, New International approaches to asylum processing and protection, Paper discussed at an informal meeting of EU Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) ministers, 28 March 2003.

  42. 42.

    See Noll 2003, p. 303.

  43. 43.

    European Commission 2018b.

  44. 44.

    Ibid.

  45. 45.

    European Commission 2018a.

  46. 46.

    UNHCR and IOM 2018.

  47. 47.

    European Commission 2018a. See also Council of the European Union 2018, above n. 45.

  48. 48.

    Maiani 2018, p. 3.

  49. 49.

    Ibid.

  50. 50.

    Ibid.

  51. 51.

    Reuters (2018) Juncker says North Africa Migrant 'Camps' not on EU agenda”. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-africa/juncker-says-north-africa-migrant-camps-not-on-eu-agenda-idUSKCN1N01TU. Accessed 4 July 2020; Boffey (2019) “African Union Seeks to kill EU Plan to Process Migrants in Africa”. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/24/african-union-seeks-to-kill-eu-plan-to-process-migrants-in-africa. Accessed 4 July 2020.

  52. 52.

    Savino 2017, p. 86.

  53. 53.

    Proposal for a Regulation establishing a Union Resettlement Framework and amending Regulation (EU) No 516/2014 of the European Parliament and the Council, COM (2016) 468 final, 13 July 2016.

  54. 54.

    Ibid., Article 4.

  55. 55.

    ECRE 2016.

  56. 56.

    Report on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a Union Resettlement Framework and amending Regulation (EU) No 516/2014 of the European Parliament and the Council (COM (2016) 0468–C8–0325/2016–2016/0225(COD)) 19 October17.

  57. 57.

    Carrera and Cortinovis 2019, p. 9.

  58. 58.

    Santos Vara 2020, p. 71.

  59. 59.

    ECtHR, Loizidou v. Turkey, Judgment, 1995, App. No. 15318/89, para 62.

  60. 60.

    ECtHR, Al-Saadoon and Mufdhi v. the United Kingdom, Judgment, 2009, App. No. 61498/08, paras 135, 140 and 155.

  61. 61.

    See ECtHR Bankovic v. Belgium, Judgment, 2001, App. No. 52207/99, para 73; Hirsi Jamaa v. Italy, above n. 22, para 81.

  62. 62.

    ECtHR Al-Skeini v. United Kingdom, Judgment, 2011, App. No. 55721/21, paras 135–142. See also Banković v Belgium, above n. 61, paras 59–73. See Gammeltoft-Hansen and Hathaway 2015, p. 235.

  63. 63.

    Savino 2017, p. 86.

  64. 64.

    Hirsi Jamaa and Others v. Italy, above n. 22.

  65. 65.

    Ibid., para 74.

  66. 66.

    See Commissioner of Human Rights—Council of Europe, Letter to the Minister of the Interior of Italy, CommHR/INM/sf 0345-2017, 28 September 2017.

  67. 67.

    Rappresentanza Permanente D’Italia presso il Consiglio d’Europa [Permant Representation of Italy to the Council of Europe] 2017.

  68. 68.

    Santos Vara 2020, p. 73.

  69. 69.

    Skordas 2018, p. 2.

  70. 70.

    Mitsilegas 2019, p. 302.

  71. 71.

    Hirsi Jamaa v. Italy, above n. 22, para 74; and Al-Skeini and Others, above n. 62, paras 136–137.

  72. 72.

    Human Rights at Sea 2018.

  73. 73.

    See CoE Commissioner for Human Rights 2019.

  74. 74.

    Santos Vara and Pascual Matellán 2020, p. 170.

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Acknowledgements

This contribution has been written within the framework of the research project on ‘The externalisation and informalisation of the EU migration, asylum and border management policies: new legal challenges’ (EUMABEXT), funded by the Spanish Government (RTI2018-099097-B-I00).

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  1. University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

    J. Santos Vara

  2. University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

    L. Pascual Matellán

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  1. EU Legal—Centre for European and International Law, The Hague, The Netherlands

    W. Th. Douma

  2. Amsterdam Centre for European Law and Governance, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    C. Eckes

  3. Ghent European Law Institute (GELI), Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    P. Van Elsuwege

  4. T.M.C. Asser Institute, The Hague, The Netherlands

    E. Kassoti

  5. Faculty of Law, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    A. Ott

  6. Faculty of Law, Groningen University, Groningen, The Netherlands

    R. A. Wessel

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Santos Vara, J., Pascual Matellán, L. (2021). The Externalisation of EU Migration Policies: The Implications Arising from the Transfer of Responsibilities to Third Countries. In: Douma, W.T., Eckes, C., Van Elsuwege, P., Kassoti, E., Ott, A., Wessel, R.A. (eds) The Evolving Nature of EU External Relations Law. T.M.C. Asser Press, The Hague. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-423-5_14

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