The European Union Returns Directive and Its Compatibility with International Human Rights Law

Analysis of Return Decision, Entry Ban, Detention, and Removal
Erscheinungsjahr 2019
ISBN: 978-90-04-36052-5
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 45, 830 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 259 mm, Gewicht: 1315 g

Reihe: Immigration and Asylum Law and Policy in Europe

The book undertakes a thorough human rights assessment of the EU Returns Directive. The overarching human rights framework, which circumscribes states prerogatives in the context of expulsion, builds upon obligations derived from the principle of non-refoulement; the right to life, respect for family and private life, effective remedy, basic social rights; the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment; and protection against arbitrary detention and collective expulsion. Based on this assessment, Majcher explores several protection gaps in the EU return policy which may result in violations of migrants’ rights and highlights how the provisions of the Directive should be implemented in line with member states’ human rights obligations. Informed by this assessment, the book discusses amendments to the Directive, proposed by the European Commission in September 2018.

“By examining the European Union (EU) Returns Directive in the light of international and European human rights law, Izabella Majcher thoroughly explores and analyses the requirements the EU member states’ authorities must guarantee migrants in an irregular situation when they adopt and implement return decisions, entry bans, pre-removal detention, and removal.”
Marie-Laure Basilien-Gainche, Professor of public international law, University Jean Moulin Lyon 3, Honorary member of the Institut universitaire de France

Autoren/Hrsg.

Majcher, Izabella

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Kultur Menschenrechte, Bürgerrechte
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Internationale Beziehungen Europäische Union, Europapolitik
• Rechtswissenschaften Internationales Recht und Europarecht Europarecht Europäisches Verwaltungs-, Umwelt- und Gesundheitsrecht
• Rechtswissenschaften Internationales Recht und Europarecht Internationales Recht Internationale Menschen- und Minderheitenrechte, Kinderrechte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements

Abbreviations and Country Codes

Part 1

Introduction

1 The Returns Directive against the Background of International and EU Human Rights Law: Setting the Scene

1.1 The Returns Directive

1.1.1 Presentation of the Returns Directive

1.1.2 Instruments Required for the Implementation of the Returns Directive

1.1.3 The Returns Directive within the EU Asylum and Immigration Policy

1.2 Sources of the Human Rights Protection in the Context of Expulsion

1.2.1 International Human Rights Law

1.2.2 EU Human Rights Law

1.3 The Need for a Human Rights Assessment of the Returns Directive in the Context of the Recast Process


Part 2

Return Decision

Introduction: The Scheme of Return under EU Law


2 Human Rights Impediments to Return

2.1 Introduction

2.2 The Principle of Non-Refoulement

2.2.1 The Scope of the Principle of Non-Refoulement

2.2.2 Implementation of the Principle of Non-Refoulement

2.3 Family and Private Life

2.3.1 The Scope of the Concepts of Family and Private Life

2.3.2 The Implementation of the Right to Respect for Family and Private Life

2.4 Conclusion

3 Procedural Safeguards

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Prohibition of Collective Expulsion

3.3 The Right to Be Heard Prior to Adoption of the Return
Decision

3.4 Effective Remedy

3.4.1 Accessibility of Remedy

3.4.2 Effectiveness of Remedy

3.5 Additional Child-Specific Safeguards

3.5.1 The Right to Be Heard

3.5.2 The Guardianship Assistance for Unaccompanied Children

3.6 Conclusion

4 Social Rights Pending Return

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Health Care

4.3 Education

4.4 Adequate Standard of Living

4.4.1 Basic Conditions of Subsistence Addressed in the Preamble of the Directive

4.4.2 Can Destitution Entail a Duty to Regularise?

4.5 Conclusion


Conclusion: Legal Limbo for Non-Deportable People


Part 3

Re-Entry Ban

Introduction: Entry Ban as Pan-European Effect of Return Decision


5 Entry Ban in the Light of the Principle of Proportionality

5.1 Introduction

5.2 The Nature of Entry Ban

5.3 The Schengen-Wide Character of Entry Ban

5.4 Conclusion

6 Human Rights Impediments to Entry Ban

6.1 Introduction

6.2 The Principle of Non-Refoulement

6.2.1 Endorsement of the Principle of Non-Refoulement in Relation to Entry Ban

6.2.2 Implementation of the Principle of Non-Refoulement in Relation to Entry Ban

6.3 Family and Private Life

6.4 Conclusion

7 Protection of Personal Data Stored in a SIS Alert

7.1 Introduction

7.2 The Right to Data Protection

7.2.1 The Right to Information

7.2.2 The Right of Access

7.2.3 The Right to Correction and Deletion of Data

7.2.4 The Right to a Remedy

7.3 The Right to Private Life

7.4 Conclusion


Conclusion: Schengen-Wide Entry Ban: a Triple Peine?


Part 4

Pre-Removal Detention

Introduction: Immigration Detention in the Light of the Prohibition of Arbitrary Detention


8 Permissibility of Detention

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Lawfulness of Detention

8.2.1 Procedural Requirements: the Rights of the Defence

8.2.2 Substantive Requirements: the Grounds for Detention

8.3 Necessity and Proportionality of Detention

8.3.1 Alternatives to Detention

8.3.2 The Rule of Non-Detention of Children

8.4 Length of Detention

8.4.1 The Maximum Permissible Duration of Detention

8.4.2 Risk of Re-Detention upon the Expiry of the Permissible Length of Detention

8.5 Detention at the Border: Out of the Directive’s Safeguards?

8.6 Conclusion

9 Procedural Safeguards

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Review of Detention

9.2.1 Accessibility of Review

9.2.2 Effectiveness of Review

9.3 Compensation for Unlawful Detention

9.4 Conclusion

10 Conditions of Detention

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Place of Detention and Separation of Different Categories of Detainees

10.3 Treatment in Detention and Material Conditions

10.4 Specific Categories of Detainees

10.4.1 Children

10.4.2 Other Vulnerable Persons

10.5 Contact with the Outside World and Independent Monitoring

10.6 Complaint Mechanisms and Effective Investigation

10.7 Conclusion

Conclusion: Externalisation of Immigration Detention


Part 5

Enforcement of Return

Introduction: Enforcement of the Return Decision as the Final Stage of the Return Process



11 Mandatory (“Voluntary”) Return

11.1 Introduction

11.2 “Voluntary” Departure Period

11.3 Assisted Voluntary Return Programmes and Ambiguous Role of the IOM

11.4 Conclusion

12 Forcible Return

12.1 Introduction

12.2 Removal

12.2.1 Returnee’s Medical Condition

12.2.2 The Use of Force and Means of Restraint

12.2.3 Deportation Personnel

12.2.4 Independent Monitoring

12.2.5 Complaint Mechanisms and Effective Investigation

12.3 Joint Removal Operations

12.3.1 Joint Removal Flights under the Council Decision 2004/573

12.3.2 Joint Return Operations Coordinated by Frontex

12.4 Conclusion

13 Removal to a Transit Country Based on Readmission Agreements

13.1 Introduction

13.2 Indirect Refoulement

13.2.1 The Concept of Safe Third Country

13.2.2 Removal to a Transit Country under the Returns Directive

13.3 Collective Expulsion

13.4 Conclusion

Conclusion: Post-Return Monitoring: a Missing Element


Part 6

Conclusion

14 The Returns Directive: Effectiveness of Return vs. Human Rights Protection

14.1 Critical Overview of the EU Return Process

14.2 Return Procedures against the Backdrop of International and EU Human Rights Law

14.2.1 Risks to Human Rights Protection

14.2.2 Upholding Human Rights Protection

14.3 Way Forward

14.3.1 The Recast of the Returns Directive

14.3.2 The Implementation in line with States’ Human Rights Obligations

Annexes

Annex 1 Ratifications of International Instruments: United Nations

Annex 2 Ratifications of International Instruments: Council of Europe

Annex 3 Reservations

Annex 4 Domestic Legislation Transposing the Returns Directive

Annex 5 Return Decisions 2012–2018

Annex 6 Entry Bans 2009–2013

Annex 7 Entry Bans in 2013

Annex 8 Detention Orders in 2013

Annex 9 Maximum Length of Detention Prior to and after the Transposition of the Directive

Annex 10 Removals 2012–2018

Annex 11 Voluntary Returns (Numbers and Percentage) 2014–2017

Annex 12 Assisted Returns (Numbers and Percentage) 2014–2017

Annex 13 Forcible Returns (Numbers and Percentage) 2014–2017

Annex 14 Frontex’s Return Operations 2006–2017


Bibliography


Index

Über Autor(innen)

Izabella Majcher, Ph.D. (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, 2017), is a researcher at the Global Detention Project and visitor to immigration detainees in Geneva with the Ligue Suisse des Droits de l’Homme. She has published widely on the EU returns policy and has experience in various international fora (UN system, diplomatic representations, and NGOs).