The role of the European Union in the protection of boat migrants at its borders : pushbacks on the central Mediterranean route

Abstract

This dissertation explores the extent in which the European Union provides protection for boat migrants against illegal pushbacks within the Central Mediterranean Route, through interdisciplinary qualitative research methods. The conducted research seeks to do so by not only looking at applicable legislation, but also considering the current and potential future EU policy affecting the protection of boat migrants against pushbacks. The Central Mediterranean Route is the most widely used route by migrants making their way towards the EU. It is also the deadliest route, with increasing irregular arrivals. In response to these arrivals, the EU adopted various externalisation and securitisation strategies to attempt to bar irregular arrivals on this route. The most prominent being the cooperative agreement with Libya by establishing a Libyan Coast Guard, as well as extended funding and training to intercept migrants within the newly established Libyan search and rescue region and return them to Tripoli. However, the legislation and therefore also the policy of the EU must be carried out in accordance with international-and human rights law to protect boat migrants from pushbacks. A cornerstone principle in relation to pushbacks is the obligation to nonrefoulement, entailing the prohibition to return migrants to countries where they fear persecution, without proper risk-assessment. The influence of the EU on potential human rights violations, by supporting an unstable militia government in carrying out their border controls, potentially conducting illegal pullbacks, cannot be ignored. It can be argued that the EU evades shared responsibility by establishing ‘contactless control’ over pre-arrivals in a way that jurisdiction is not engaged. Nevertheless, even if shared responsibility could be determined for potential violations, there is no effective accountability framework to follow up on those claims. Therefore, the EU successfully continues its agreements with Libya, despite various investigations and court cases into its border management and human rights violations in Libya, thus failing to adequately protect boat migrants against pushbacks.