Human Rights in the European Paradigm of the Protection of Aliens

Abstract

Over the past few years, the migration related problems have been increasing. This is a trend that affects not only individual countries or geographical regions but is rather a global trend. There are a number of factors both in Europe and in the world that cause the movement of people fleeing from the threat to their lives. This is especially evident in connection with Russia’s aggression against Ukraine in 2022. The issue of the protection of aliens in connection with migration is a serious challenge for the international community. This issue is particularly relevant especially in the context of international human rights law. The aim of the research concerns an in-depth analysis of the phenomena that occur today in international human rights law and in the European regional system of their protection. This is especially important in the context of aliens and migrants coming to Europe in connection with the ongoing armed conflict. In view of the events and problems facing Europe, the Member States of the European Union and the institutions of the European Union, it seems necessary to analyse and indicate the legal mechanisms that apply to the situation. The presented research concerns human rights, international law and European law. This scope of research consists in combining efforts and knowledge within the scope of all three mentioned areas. In the area of human rights protection standards, the European paradigm of the protection of aliens can be observed. This paradigm is shaped by a number of instruments, both legally binding and non-formally binding per se (soft law). First of all, these are instruments in the area of the European Union system, including the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, followed by the documents of the Council of Europe headed by the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Social Charter. In addition, this paradigm is shaped, directly or indirectly, by a number of other international regulations, especially universal law regulations, among which the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees of 1951 has a special position. It is clear that the paradigm of protection of aliens is not limited to functioning within one international organization or one legal system but must be perceived as going beyond a rigidly defined institutional framework. Therefore, it should be looked at from a slightly broader perspective encompassing mechanisms functioning not only in the legal system of the European Union or the Council of Europe, but also those resulting from the system of universal protection of human rights (UN). The attempt to carry out institutional analysis of the European paradigm of the protection of aliens and its key elements can only be made by taking into account the broad perception of the analysed issues. The European paradigm of the protection of aliens is changing, and the dynamics of these changes is determined primarily by human rights standards. This means that the studied paradigm is not a closed normative entity, and the pace and direction in which it develops is determined by the development of human rights protection standards in Europe. These standards are the main factor in this process. The Court of Justice of the European Union and the bodies applying European human rights treaties, headed by the European Court of Human Rights, play a fundamental role in shaping the model of conduct of European countries towards aliens. The subject of the analysis concerns the European paradigm of protection of aliens and the impact it has on the contemporary protection of individual rights. The research was carried out on the basis of a grant from the National Science Centre, Poland under the OPUS 12 Programme: Human Rights in the European Paradigm of the Protection of Aliens (2016/23/B/HS5/03596), headed by Professor Elżbieta Karska.