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On the Legality Under International Law of the Criminalization or Suppression of the Expression of Solidarity to Refugees

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2021

Obiora Chinedu Okafor
Obiora Chinedu Okafor*
Affiliation:
EMAIL: ookafor@yorku.ca.
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Extract

As Professor Jastram has noted, in and of itself, international refugee law is not explicit enough on the issue at hand. It is not clear enough in protecting persons who come in aid of, or show solidarity to, refugees or asylum-seekers. That does not mean, however, that no protections exist for them at all in other, if you like, sub-bodies of international law. This presentation focuses on the nature and character of those already existing international legal protections, as well as on any protection gaps that remain and recommendations on how they can be closed. It should be noted though that although the bulk of the presentation focuses on the relevant international legal protection arguments, this presentation begins with a short examination of the nature of the acts of criminalization and suppression at issue.

Type
Imprisoning Schindler: Responding to the Legal Vulnerability of Those Who Aid Refugees
Information
Proceedings of the ASIL Annual Meeting , Volume 114 , 2020 , pp. 102 - 113
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The American Society of International Law.

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Footnotes

This presentation is based on my June 2019 Report to the UN Human Rights Council, which was prepared with the research support of the Osgoode Hall Law School and the Nathanson Centre on Transnational Human Rights, Crime and Security, both at York University, Toronto. I would like to thank Lilian Asiimwe and Kiana Blake for their excellent research assistance.

References

1 Liz Fekete, Europe: Crimes of Solidarity, 50 Race & Class 83, 94–95 (2009).

2 Valentina Della Fina, Cap Anamur I, 13 Y.B. Int'l Humanitarian L. 542 (2011).

3 See Tugba Basaran, Saving Lives at Sea: Security, Law and Adverse Effects, 16 Eur. J. Migration & L. 365, 370–76 (2014).

4 AfricaTech, Italy Court Releases Migrant Rescue Ship Seized Last Month, Reuters (Apr. 16, 2018), at https://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFL8N1RT4FQ.

5 Liz Fekete, Frances Webber & Anya Edmond-Petit, Humanitarianism: The Unacceptable Face of Solidarity, Inst. Race Relations 1, 3 (2017).

6 Maria Lorena Cook, Humanitarian Aid Is Never a Crime: Humanitarianism and Illegality in Migrant Advocacy, 45 L. & Soc'y Rev. 561, 562 (2011).

7 Andrew Burridge, Differential Criminalization Under Operation Streamline: Challenges to Freedom of Movement and Humanitarian Aid Provision in the Mexico-US Borderlands, 26 Refuge 78, 83 (2009).

8 Mariana Gkliati, Criminalization of Migrants in an Irregular Situation and of Persons Engaging with Them, Eur. Agency Fundamental Rts., at 31 (Mar. 2014).

9 Fekete, Webber & Edmond-Petit, supra note 5, at 55.

10 Department of Justice Letter to NWIRP (Apr. 5, 2017), available at https://www.nwirp.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Dkt-1-1-exhibit.pdf (see Annex 1); NWIRP v. Sessions, No. 2:17-cv-00716, Order (W.D. Wa. May 17, 2017), available at https://www.nwirp.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Dkt-33-order-granting-tro.pdf (see Annex 2).

11 Fekete, supra note 1, at 84–85.

12 OHCHR Press Release, US Urged to Protect Rights Defenders as Activist Maru Mora Villalpando Faces Deportation Case (Feb. 14, 2018), at https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22657&LangID=E.

13 Frances Webber, Institute of Race Relations Interview (Mar. 8, 2018), at http://www.irr.org.uk/news/stansted-15-face-trial.

14 Kristina M. Campbell, Humanitarian Aid Is Never a Crime: The Politics of Immigration Enforcement and the Provision of Sanctuary, 63 Syracuse L. Rev. 72 (2012).

15 Kay Hailbronner & Georg Jochum, Synthesis Report on the Implementation of the Directive on Facilitation of Unauthorised Entry and Stay of 28 November 2002 (Dec. 12, 2007), available at http://odysseus-network.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/2002-90-Facilitation-unauthorised-entry-Synthesis.pdf.

16 Facilitation Directive, Art. 1(2).

17 Fekete, Webber & Edmond-Petit, supra note 5, at 1–31.

18 Basaran, supra note 3, at 367.

19 Della Fina, supra note 5, at 545.

20 Basaran, supra note 3, at 367.

21 Id.

22 Id. at 369–70.

23 Richard Barnes, The International Law of the Sea and Migration Control, in Extraterritorial Immigration Control: Legal Challenges 103, 135 (Bernard Ryan & Valsamis Mitsilegas eds., 2010).

24 Id.

25 Id.

26 Vadarlis v. Ruddock, 1297 FCA (Sept. 11, 2001) (Austl.).

27 Resolution 1821 of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, paras. 5, 12 (2011). See also the Rules for Sea Border Operations contained in the Annex to Council Decision (April 2010) Supplementing the Schengen Borders Code as Regards the Surveillance of the Sea External Borders in the Context of Operational Cooperation Coordinated by the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union, 2010/252/EU.

28 Shalini Bhargava Ray, Saving Lives, 58 B.C. L. Rev. 1126, 1237–44 (2017).

29 Id.

30 Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air of 2000, Nov. 15, 2000, Article 6 [hereinafter Smuggling Protocol].

31 Id. Art. 4 (emphasis added). See also Fekete, supra note 11, at 84.

32 Rachel Landry, The “Humanitarian Smuggling” of Refugees: Criminal Offence or Moral Obligation? 1, at 8–11 (Refugee Studies Centre at the University of Oxford Working Paper Series No. 119, Oct. 2016).

33 Smuggling Protocol, supra note 30, Art. 19 (emphasis added).

34 Sergio Carrera & Joanna Parkin, Protecting and Delivering Fundamental Rights of Irregular Migrants at Local and Regional Levels in the European Union, 3 (2011).

35 Mark Provera, The Criminalisation of Irregular Migration in the European Union, Ctr. Eur. Pol'y Stud. 27–28 (2015).

36 Id. at 27–28.

37 Report of the Special Rapporteur on Summary and Extrajudicial Executions, UN Doc. A/73/314 (2017).

38 Brulinda Pali, Europe as Terraferma: Against Criminalization of Solidarity, Sec. Praxis (May 5, 2017), at https://securitypraxis.eu/terraferma-solidarity-not-crime .

39 Jill M. Williams, The Unsafe Security Nexus and the Humanitarization of Border Enforcement, 182 Geographical J. 27, 30 (2016).

40 See, e.g., Singh v. Minister of Employment and Immigration, [1985] 1 SCR 177, paras. 44–48, 52–53, 59–60 (Sup. Ct. Can. 1985) (Can.).

41 See, e.g., UN Human Rights Committee, Hibaq Said Hashi v. Demark, UN Doc. CCPR/C/120/D/2470/2014, paras. 9.1–9.10 (2017).

42 UN Human Rights Committee, Yuriy Bakur v. Belarus, UN Doc. CCPR/C/114/D/1902/2009, paras. 7.4, 7.7, 7.9–7.10 (2015).

43 UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 4: The Right to Adequate Housing (Art. 11(1) of the Covenant), UN Doc. E/1992/23 (1991). See also UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, I.D.G v. Spain, UN Doc. E/C.12/55/D/2/2014, para. 11.1 (2017).

44 Council of Europe: European Committee of Social Rights, Conference of European Churches (CEC) v. The Netherlands (Decision on the Merits), Complaint No. 90/2013, paras. 31–32, 34–35, 37, 41, 45, 48, 113 (2014).

45 UN GA, Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, UN Doc. A/RES/73/195, paras. 15, 24 (2019).

46 Report of the United Nations High Commissioners for Refugees, Part II Global Compact on Refugees, UN Doc. A/73/12 (Part II), paras. 5, 16 (2018).

47 Hungary Prime Minister's Office Press Release, Government Declares State of Crisis Due to Mass Migration in Two Countries (Sept. 15, 2015), at http://www.kormany.hu/en/prime-minister-s-office/news/government-declares-state-of-crisis-due-to-mass-migration-in-two-counties. See also Ian Traynor, Migration Crisis: Hungary PM Says Europe in Grip of Madness, Guardian (Sept. 3, 2015), at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/03/migration-crisis-hungary-pm-victor-orban-europe-response-madness .

48 R v. Oakes, [1986] 1 SCR 103 (Sup. Ct. Can. Feb. 28, 1986) (Can.).

49 Fekete, supra note 11, at 84.

50 Carrera & Parkin, supra note 34, at 3.

51 Sergio Carrera & Massimo Merlino, Undocumented Immigrants and Rights in the EU: Addressing the Gap Between Social Science Research and Policy-Making in the Stockholm Programme?, Ctr. Eur. Pol'y Stud. 33 (2009).

52 Sergio Carrera, et al., Fit for Purpose?: The Facilitation Directive and the Criminalization of Humanitarian Assistance to Irregular Migrants, European Parliament Directorate-General for Internal Policies, Ctr. Eur. Pol'y Stud., Citizens’ Rts. & Const. Aff. 10–11 (2016).

53 Cédric Herrou, Décision No. 2018-717/718 QPC, Const. Council, paras. 7–15, at https://www.conseil-constitutionnel.fr/decision/2018/2018717_718QPC.htm .

54 Gkliati, supra note 8.

55 See Annex 5 of the Relevant Law signed by Francois Hollande on Dec. 31, 2012, Legifrance (Jan. 1, 2013), at https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do;jsessionid=1A086BE418596ED3F4A27A222F25AAE7.tpdjo15v_1?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000026871211&categorieLien=id. See also Provera, supra note 35, at 17.