The Externalisation Of European Migration Control And The Reach Of International Refugee Law

Abstract

The Italian-Libyan Friendship Treaty is significant of a more general shift in the way that European migration control is organised. This chapter presents a general framework for understanding how outsourcing of migration control relates to international refugee law. It reviews the specific debate within refugee law and attempts to bring clarity to the application, ratione loci, of the nonrefoulement principle under the Refugee Convention. The issue is referred back to the broader framework of human rights and international law, and here the question of legal obligations in situations of extraterritorial migration control will be discussed by reference to the concept of extraterritorial jurisdiction as it has been applied in different situations by international human rights bodies. Lastly, the chapter discusses the issue of indirect or subsidiary obligations when aiding or assisting another state in carrying out migration control in the context of the International Law Commission's Articles on State Responsibility. Keywords: European migration control; human rights; international law commission; international refugee law