Dozens of European Nations Sign Off on New Interpretation of Rights Convention in Migration Cases
The declaration gives governments more room to weigh deportation and security concerns against family-life rights while keeping bans on torture and death-penalty removals.
- On Friday, 46 nations signed a political declaration in Chisinau, Moldova clarifying how the European Convention on Human Rights applies to migration cases, affirming states' sovereign right to control entry while maintaining Convention compliance.
- Member states including the UK, Italy, and Denmark argued that courts' interpretations had protected the wrong people and placed too many limits on expelling foreign criminals, with the ECHR becoming a lightning rod for mass migration concerns.
- The declaration allows national authorities to weigh "respect for private and family life" against "significant weight" of security and economic factors, and permits third-country return hubs in Rwanda and Albania provided Convention obligations are met.
- British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the declaration means countries can "take action on illegal migration, and strong action, at the same time as upholding international law," though Amnesty International warned against vague security definitions justifying arbitrary restrictions.
- Secretary General Alain Berset rejected Brexit comparisons, describing the non-binding declaration as a political discussion guiding national authorities, while the EU's migration commission hailed it as an important step toward unified migration policy.
9 Articles
9 Articles
European Convention on Human Rights: How new ‘declaration’ could change migrant rights
European ministers have signed a new 'declaration’, in an attempt to give governments more power to deport migrants without undermining fundamental rights, writes Georg von Harrach.
According to the unanimously adopted declaration, the organization of instrumentalized immigration must not be allowed to undermine the foundations of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Council of Europe (CoE) member states agreed on a joint declaration on Friday that would soften the European Convention on Human Rights to make it easier to expel migrants. The text was approved by the foreign ministers of the 46 member states, according to the organization's official information.
European ministers adopted on Friday (15) a new interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights which could facilitate some deportation of immigrants, including to repatriation centres or in other countries.
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