UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants: Study on the management of the external borders of the European Union

The UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants has published his regional study on the management of the external borders of the European Union and its impact on the human rights of migrants. The study concludes that the EU's approach to migration is based on deterrence of irregular migration through the strengthening of external border controls, and that such approach is coupled with a discourse that links migration to criminality and security. The Special Rapporteur notes that such an approach is fundamentally at odds with human rights and that, in the case of the EU, it has served to legitimise mechanisms such as detention, pushbacks and readmissions without adequate human rights guarantees, as well as to fuel xenophobia, discrimination and marginalisation of migrants. Recommendations include opening up more regular migration channels, creating a harmonized set of minimum rights for migrants in an irregular situation, revising the recast Dublin regulation and its underlying principles fundamentally, promoting viable alternatives to detention, ensuring access to justice to all migrants and establishing durable solution for non-removables. There are also specific recommendations for the relevant EU institutions and agencies.

Read the full report on the website of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

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