Is It a Violation of the Right to Leave to Prevent Migrants from Crossing the Border to Another State?

Nora Markard

The research presented in this video looks into the rightfulness of engaging other states in the protection of EU borders. This happens when EU member states cooperate with the migrants’ countries of origin or transit countries in order to hinder refugees from crossing the border, e.g. by providing training or boats for border patrols. As NORA MARKARD explains, one central finding is that when a EU state outsources migration control it still remains liable for possible human rights violations that happen during border protection measures – even if carried out by a third state. Furthermore, she elucidates that preventing somebody from leaving a country only in a specific way or direction is still an interference with the human right to leave.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21036/LTPUB10240

Researcher

Nora Markard is a Junior Professor for Public Law, International Law and Global Constitutionalism at the University of Hamburg. She studied Law and International Relations at the Humboldt University of Berlin, at the Pantheon-Sorbonne University Paris and at King’s College London. Her fields of research are international and constitutional law, comparative constitutionalism as well as migration law and legal gender studies. In 2010 she co-founded the Humboldt Law Clinic Human Rights at the Humboldt University of Berlin and runs the student-initiated Refugee Law Clinic Hamburg. Her doctoral thesis on war refugees was awarded the Humboldt Prize in 2012 and Marie Elisabeth Lüders Prize in 2013.

University of Hamburg (Universität Hamburg)

Universität Hamburg is the largest institution for research and education in the north of Germany. As one of the country's largest universities, we offer a diverse course spectrum and excellent research opportunities. The University boasts numerous interdisciplinary projects in a broad range of subjects and an extensive partner network with leading institutions on a regional, national and international scale. Universität Hamburg offers approximately 170 degree programs in the following eight faculties: Faculty of Law; Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences; Faculty of Medicine; Faculty of Education; Faculty of Humanities; Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Natural Sciences; Faculty of Psychology and Human Movement; Faculty of Business Administration (Hamburg Business School). The University was founded in 1919 by local citizens. Important founding figures include Senator Werner von Melle and the merchant Edmund Siemers. (Source: University of Hamburg)

Original Publication

The Right to Leave by Sea: Legal Limits on EU Migration Control by Third Countries

Nora Markard

Published in 2016