Enforcement of international human rights law : a transnational study of irregular migration in the Mediterranean

Abstract

This paper carries out a desk research on international agreements and law that bind countries to their principles and aims legally. Then it carries out a discussion on this with a specific focus on Malta in the context of its treatment of migrants in detention, with respect to its national laws, European Laws and the obligations it has towards other regional and international laws that it is a signatory to. The discussion is then taken to case studies that defined the Maltese legal system from influence of the ECtHR judgments. This was then used to take parallels from a case study that is more recent allowing for a discussion on the current system set in place and the international entities that exert legal and political influence on national legal structures within the EU. This allows the discussion to ask a number of questions on the legality of the issues, the importance and impact of international bodies and entities as well as the overall respect towards human rights from national governments.