The European Union’s Responsibility for Protecting the Rights of Irregular Maritime Migrants in the Mediterranean under EU and International Law

Abstract

The thesis explores the phenomenon of irregular maritime migration in the Mediterranean, the rights of irregular maritime migrants in the international and European context and the EU’s responsibility, vis-à-vis this phenomenon, within its own legal order and in international law.

The main research questions include: (1) What are irregular maritime migrants’ rights in the Mediterranean in international human rights and EU law? (2) What is the EU’s responsibility, (i) in accordance with the International Law Commission Draft Articles on the Responsibility of International Organizations, and (ii) in line with EU law? And (3) What is the EU’s responsibility in its external competences towards irregular maritime migrants in the Mediterranean?
The research identifies outdated legal provisions as the roots of the phenomenon and identifies a category of irregular migrants who are subject to rights of protection according to human rights but fall outside the 1951 Refugee Convention.

As evidence of the alleged shift in responsibility from the Member States to the EU, the thesis explores i) the recent developments at the international scene concerning migrants coming from vulnerable situations and ii) the changing mandates of the EU agencies acting on behalf of the EU in the area of freedom, security, and justice.
Further, the thesis examines areas of law to identify the potential responsibility of the EU agencies in international maritime law and the international framework concerning smuggling. It raises the question of what could trigger individual responsibility, taking note of international criminal law and the academic term of ‘banal crimes’.

New insights into the EU’s responsibility are possible in the external dimension of migration. For example, the EU’s externalization of migration policies through its agreements with non-EU states, the EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework, and the possibility that the principle of conditionality could be used as a shield for human rights when collaborating with non-EU countries.