A ‘new European border’ on the doorstep of Africa: the externalization of migration management and its effects on migrants’ human rights

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to analyze the impact of external migration control on the human rights of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees. It will consider how the European Union (EU) and its Member States have pushed the border out towards the Mediterranean, and consequently into African countries, so migrants experience the country they wish to migrate to directly on their ‘doorstep’. It will consider the rights afforded to migrants, asylum seekers and refugees within EU territory and determine how and if these rights are being violated through the external application of migration control. It will analyze the shifting of responsibility to third countries in managing migration, by looking specifically at the cases of Libya and Morocco and their bilateral agreements with Member States. Throughout this thesis various sections will explore the flexible sovereign borders of the EU, through its joint maritime patrols, surveillance, bilateral agreements, funding and border assistance missions, to understand how it has reached beyond national and EU borders and how this directly affects the human rights of migrants’. Key words: migrant, asylum-seeker, external, control, migration, management, extraterritorial, cooperation, third-country