The Informalisation of Migration Deals and Human Rights of People on the Move: Does It Matter?

Abstract

AbstractThe EU and its Member States increasingly cooperate with third countries to stem migration flows. Moreover, we witness an increasing informalisation of migration control arrangements, as illustrated by the 2016 EU-Turkey Statement and the 2017 Italy-Libya memorandum of understanding. This raises many questions, including: what is the impact of the informalisation of migration control arrangements on the international responsibility of EU Member States? Accordingly, this chapter explores the responsibility of EU Member States for human rights violations of people on the move in Turkey and Libya. The analysis proceeds in three steps. It first describes the development of informal migration control arrangements between EU Member States and neighbouring partner States, notably Libya and Turkey, as well as the plight of people on the move affected by migration control. Second, it examines to what extent the informal nature of contemporary migration control arrangements enables EU Member States to avoid triggering their extraterritorial jurisdiction and hence their human rights obligations. Finally, the chapter discusses whether the informal nature of contemporary migration control arrangements prevents EU Member States from incurring international responsibility for human rights violations of people on the move in Turkey and Libya. The chapter concludes that, while migration control agreements are problematic for various reasons, in terms of international responsibility their informal nature should not be our main preoccupation.Keywordsinformalisationmigration controlhuman rightsresponsibilityjurisdictionTurkeyLibya