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EU Migration Governance: Competences, Human Rights Justifications and the Internal-External Divide
Three main conclusions are drawn from this overview. First, the EU has broad and flexible powers in migration, which gives political actors significant room to act, especially in times of crisis, with only limited control from the courts. Second, human rights justifications play a limited role in EU migration measures. Human rights are often mentioned as general…
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A Normative Core for a Geopolitical Europe
As the global geopolitical map is being redrawn and the norms that have guided international relations are being challenged, Europe is changing and adapting. Refocusing attention on economy, security and defence is a necessity, as is ensuring greater flexibility in how EU engages with regional and national partners across the globe. As of yet, it…
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The EU’s Role – Globally, Multilaterally, Internally – as a Human Rights Actor (in the Face of State HRJ Practices)
This report explores the role of the EU as a human rights promoter, including its ability to monitor and control the legitimacy of the use of human rights justifications by state actors. Broadly, the EU’s activities in human rights governance can be described in three layers. First and most obviously, the EU is able to…
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Report on the Concept of “Related Notions”
In the area of climate change, we have found a noteworthy trend of States having recourse to arguments that are not strictly human rights-based but rely on notions that are connected to human rights. Examples of such notions in connection with climate change include sustainable development, the protection of health, the welfare state, intergenerational equity,…
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Judicial Review in Sweden in the Context of Migration Law: Control Mechanisms and Human Rights Challenges
Judicial review can play a crucial role in safeguarding the rule of law, democratic procedures and human rights protections. In Sweden, the question of judicial review is particularly important in the field of migration law, a domain shaped by rapid legislative reforms, increasing political pressure and power, and heightened human rights concerns. Swedish judicial review…
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How States Invoke Human Rights to Justify Their (In)Actions
States increasingly rely on the language of human rights to frame and legitimise their policy choices. This practice is not inherently problematic: limitations on rights often require justification, and human rights law itself has an inherently justificatory structure. Problems arise, however, when states rely on arguments that deviate from the established criteria for limiting or…
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Internal and External Competences of the EU in Migration Law
The EU holds a range of competences in the area of migration. Over the past decades, the EU has developed a comprehensive constitutional framework that governs both internal migration across Member States of third-country nationals and external cooperation with third countries. While internal competences cover entry, residence, and asylum, external competences refer to its actions…
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Production of theme-specific reports including recommendations on how to better protect the fundamental rights of migrants
This report analyses how states use human rights justifications to restrict or reshape migrants’ rights while formally invoking human rights, across UN, EU and national levels. It recommends strengthening civil society, access to justice and strategic litigation to contest such justifications and better protect migrants’ fundamental rights.
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A Report on How Human Rights Organisations Respond to the Use of Human Rights Justifications in Swedish Legislative Preparatory Works, Maria Nääv & Haidar Al-amirtaha
Summary This report examines how Civil Society in the form of human rights organisations responds to Human Rights Justifications (HRJs) through the consultation process for two recently presented legislative inquiry reports: Ds 2024:30 and SOU 2024:93. HRJs are when the State uses human rights to justify its own decisions and actions. The purpose of human…
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Protective Measures or Intrusive Surveillance? Electronic Monitoring of Children in Sweden
In Sweden, a new legislative proposal is currently under consideration: allowing social services to use electronic ankle monitoring on children as young as 13. Framed as a measure to protect children and prevent harmful behaviour, the proposal raises difficult questions that reach far beyond one national context. Coordinator of HRJust, Maria Grahn-Farley has drafted the…
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