EU Return Policy and International Human Rights Law: Keeping the balance between border security and human dignity

Resumen

This article focuses on the current state of EU immigration legislation and aims to provide a critical analysis in light of international human rights law. Over the past ten years, EU Summits have emphasized the need for the adoption of new legislative measures to converge to a true European common policy on immigration. At present the mainstream debate on immigration in Europe focuses on several different topics. On the one hand, there is the need to secure the borders and control undocumented immigration, while on the other hand there is the question of the protection of migrants’ human rights and the improvement of the EU immigration system. There is also a third element, which is EU relations with the immigrants’ countries of origin. The current legal framework articulated around the Return Directive sets out the rules and principles to be applied by Member States to third country nationals who do not fulfil, or no longer fulfil, conditions of entry in accordance with EU legislation. I intend to examine the EU return policy in the light of EU law and of international human rights law. In addition, I discuss Italian and Spanish practices in their relations with the countries of origin.