TY - JOUR
AU - Goodwin-Gill, Guy S
AB - FOREWORDThe three papers collected here were presented between March and June 2015, so preceding the rapid changes and the accompanying tragedies in the movements of people towards Europe which developed so dramatically in August and September.The first, ‘Regulating “Irregular” Migration: International Obligations and International Responsibilities’, was given at a Workshop convened at the Faculty of Law of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens on 20 March 2015; the second, ‘Refugees and Migrants at Sea: Duties of Care and Protection in the Mediterranean and the Need for International Action’, at the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence on Migrants’ Rights in the Mediterranean at the University of Naples ‘L’Orientale’ on 11 May 2015; and the third, ‘Refugees: Challenges for Protection and Assistance in the 21st Century’, at a meeting on 14 June 2015 in Istanbul of the Ad Hoc Committee on Large Scale Arrival of Refugees to Turkey of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. A few grammatical errors and infelicities have been corrected, but they are otherwise unchanged and therefore somewhat repetitive, particularly on the ‘next steps’ question. A consolidated list of selected sources for the three papers is included, with some more recent documentation also added.The three papers look briefly at selected aspects of the ‘crisis’ created in many European minds by the recent and ongoing movements of people towards the region, mainly across the Mediterranean, but also over land. In many respects, these movements of refugees and others in search of a livelihood were readily foreseeable. Displacement-creating conflicts, such as those in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, have not been resolved, while the refuge which many found in bordering countries has become protracted and increasingly intolerable. Elsewhere, investment and development aid have not created, or not yet created, sufficient opportunities for a future in which migration is not needed.States, in turn, have once again failed to plan for the fall-out, to think outside the box, or to re-evaluate sovereignty options in the face of human realities and only too human tragedies. The European Union’s (EU) laudable goal of a Common European Asylum Policy, premised on common interpretations of harmonized criteria, is still to be achieved, while the Dublin Regulation contributes a region-wide bureaucracy, but not efficiency, in the handling of claims to protection, let alone justice or equity in the regional sharing of responsibility.Among other things, what is needed, as a matter of logic and coherence, is a European refugee status built on Member States’ international obligations and supplemented with the broad community benefits of EU law, including freedom of movement; it is a long shot, but a European Protection Agency competent for refugees and migrants in need of protection would be a good start, for many issues are common to both. Such a comprehensive re-organization of responsibilities, if it could be achieved, would need to be complemented by an external competence, through which the EU could engage positively and constructively with other States confronted with the phenomenon of people on the move, though always consistently with EU law, international legal obligations, and the European Convention on Human Rights.European States have special legal responsibilities in the Mediterranean, not least because they assert the right to control passage. These call again for a coherent approach to rescue at sea and interception, coupled directly with disembarkation in a place of safety, appropriate care and assistance premised on the protection of rights, and the active search for solutions and opportunities, for example, in the fields of asylum, migration, resettlement, or return. Again, the EU needs to turn outwards and to be prepared to engage with countries of transit (even with countries of origin, in the right instances), but on a basis of equality and equity, rather than just instrumentally, in pursuit of narrow regional interests and ‘sovereign entitlements’. Traditional, unilateralist assumptions regarding State competence have proven inadequate as bases for dealing with today’s humanitarian issues and close off thinking about urgently needed new approaches. As Christopher Clark has noted, though in a quite different context, ‘The power of such narratives to shrink policy horizons should not be underestimated’.1Serious thought is also called for on new ways to meet the costs produced by external displacement, which fall most heavily on ‘front-line’ States often lacking the experience and infrastructure to manage the movement of people within the rule of law. It should be obvious now – indeed, it always has been – that if the ‘temporary’ provision of refuge is underfunded or otherwise inadequate, or if the levels of international assistance to refugees are cut back, as they have been in recent months, further onward movement of those in need of protection is inevitable.There are doubtless many explanations for the present lack of political will which paralyses Europe, and stands in the way of effective protection and coherent responses to migration and displacement. History reminds us that States can cooperate to solve humanitarian problems, and that the interests of States can be accommodated in the process. The dimensions of the generations-long challenges raised by the movement of people between States call out for a standing or rolling mechanism, involving governments, international organizations, and particularly civil society. And if it is to be credible and effective in providing protection, saving lives, rekindling hope, and managing movements in the interests of all, any such mechanism will need a solid, clear foundation in human rights and a structure that ensures transparency and accountability.
TI - The Mediterranean Papers: Athens, Naples, and Istanbul
JF - International Journal of Refugee Law
DO - 10.1093/ijrl/eew030
DA - 2016-06-01
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/oxford-university-press/the-mediterranean-papers-athens-naples-and-istanbul-iMleXfWewi
SP - 276
EP - 309
VL - 28
IS - 2
DP - DeepDyve
ER -