The impact of border management on the human rights of migrants

Abstract

This thesis explores certain aspects of migration especially within the Mediterranean region and specifically with a focus on the land routes. This study in fact has a special focus upon the interaction between irregular migrants and border management at Europe’s external borders, with a look at how these two factors might impinge on the human rights of migrants. The European Union has repeatedly tried to achieve a coordinated and uniform approach to immigrants through various conventions and treaties. Despite of this, the individual member states have adopted various border management techniques, such as the building of the fences at Ceuta and Melilla. The research thus focuses on the exploration of the situation at the existent border fences protecting Spain’s and Greece’s external borders. The observations of this research are in fact reliant upon the reports written over time by a range of sources such as; non-governmental organisations advocating for migrant’s human rights which include Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. The existing reports indicate that there is in fact an existent link between the irregular migrants trying to scale the fences into Europe and the infringement upon their human rights. Despite the existence of such reports, the EU’s protests to the approaches taken by the member states to protect their external borders seem to go unheeded. In fact, Spain’s case shows that the EU’s member states possess a certain degree of discretion with regards to their external borders. The research methods part of the study is completed though a mixed method approach. This consists of two case studies which report the situations experienced by irregular migrants at three border fences. The secondary information represents the recounted events told by migrants who reportedly endured human rights abuses at the fences of; Ceuta and Melilla (at the Spanish/ Moroccan border) and the Greek- Turkish border, located at the opposite end of the Mediterranean. The similar results attained from all three borders show that the two case studies are a partial representation of Europe’s common external borders. The statistical analysis completing the second part of the research methods highlights facts which complement the findings of the case studies but which also showcase the volatility of these land borders and the obscurity of information that is available. Conclusions drawn from this thesis indicate; that the rights of irregular migrants are affected by border management in the studied areas. The information available to policy makers provides a general indication but it is hard for policy makers to prioritise policies regarding this phenomenon which is shrouded by estimates and conflicting reports. The results from the applied research method strongly suggest a replication of the situation at all the three borders, which is indicative that within Europe’s external borders there is in fact a problem of border management which is affecting negatively the human rights of irregular migrants.