Gyimah, Akosua (2022) The Malta Declaration and the Applicability of the Principle of Non-Refoulement : The EU-Libya Policy of Cooperation on External Border Governance and Irregular Migrant Control. In: Dalhousie University Research Transition Conference 2022, 2022-05-11 - 2022-05-11.
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
On 03 February 2017, the European Council and Libya’s UN-backed Government of National Accord adopted the Malta Declaration, an externalisation policy based on intensified cooperation between European Union institutions, States and Libya, to control irregular migration across the Central Mediterranean route to Europe. EU States committed to provide financial assistance, equipment and training to Libya’s coast guards and other relevant agencies to enhance Libya’s capacity to protect its external borders from smuggling, trafficking and irregular migrant departures. EU States agreed to provide financial support to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and International Organisation for Migration, to accelerate the ‘voluntary’ returns of ‘stranded’ irregular migrants in Libya to their countries of origin, and to evacuate asylum seekers and vulnerable persons in need of international protection to be resettled in the Sahel and Lake Chad region. Although the EU and its Members have touted the policy as a success based on the drastic reductions in irregular arrivals in Europe and sea deaths, the is also heavily criticized by many human rights organisations, UN bodies and academics. Critics argue that the policy puts refugees and migrants in Libya at risks of serious human rights violations, including ill-treatment, torture, refoulement and possibly chain refoulement. Drawing on the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and the concepts of externalisation and containment, this study critically examines whether voluntary humanitarian returns in Libya, provide adequate safeguards for refugees and asylum seekers against refoulement. The study also explores whether the EU Members’ direct influence, control and material support for Libya trigger international legal responsibility for any possible violations of non-refoulement. The study adopts a qualitative interpretive case study approach based on empirical analysis and interpretation of legal texts, case law, reports, practices and academic literature. It seeks to enhance scholarship on international refugee protection by providing a critical perspective on possible protection gaps and failures in the EU’s external migration policy. It hopes to formulate policy recommendations for relevant stakeholders, promote compliance with the obligations to non-refoulement and make a case for the development of a durable external migration policy, rights-based and regionally tailored protection mechanisms.