VI.2.3.1 The EU external and internal borders

Main Debates

  • Are states entitled to prevent arrival at their borders of persons seeking protection?
  • Do the 1951 Geneva Convention and Article 3 of the ECHR create a right of access to territory?

Main Points

  • The claim to state sovereignty as regards the control of borders
  • Absence of a right to cross a border as such under international law
  • Borders in asylum regions

EU Documents

  1. Regulation No 1052/2013/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2013 establishing the European Border Surveillance System (Eurosur).
  2. Regulation No 610/2013/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 amending Regulation (EC) No 562/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a Community Code on the rules governing the movement of persons across borders (Schengen Borders Code), the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement, Council Regulations (EC) No 1683/95 and (EC) No 539/2001 and Regulations (EC) No 767/2008 and (EC) No 810/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council.
  3. Regulation No 1168/2011/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2007/2004 establishing a European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union, OJ L 304/1, 22 November 2011.
  4. Commission of the European Communities, Report on the Evaluation and Future Development of the FRONTEX Agency, COM (2008) 67.
  5. Regulation No 863/2007/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 July 2007 establishing a mechanism for the creation of Rapid Border Intervention Teams and amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2007/2004 as regards that mechanism and regulating the tasks and powers of guest officers, OJ L 199, 31 July 2007.
  6. B Regulation No 562/2006/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006 establishing a Community Code on the rules governing the movement of persons across borders (Schengen Borders Code).
  7. Council Regulation No 2007/2004/EC of 26 October 2004 establishing a European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union, OJ L 349/1, 25 November 2004.
  8. Council Resolution of 26 June 1997 on Unaccompanied Minors who are Nationals of Third Countries, OJ C 221, 19 July 1997.

UNHCR Document

  1. UNHCR, ’Observations on the European Commission’s proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2007/2004 establishing a European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union (FRONTEX)’, COM (2010) 61 final.
  2. UNHCR, 'Protection Training Manual for European Border and Entry Officials', 1 April 2011.

Readings

Core

  1. S. Carrera, ‘Towards a Common European Border Service?’, CEPS Working Document No. 331, June 2010.
  2. House of Lords–European Union Committee, ‘Frontex, the EU external borders agency - Report with Evidence’, 9th Report of Session 2007–08.
  3. Meijers Committee, 'Views on the Commission Report on the Evaluation and Future Development of the FRONTEX Agency', COM (2008) 67 final, 4 April 2008.

Extended

  1. L. Den Hertog, ‘Fundamental rights and the extra-territorialization of EU border policy: a contradiction in terms?’, in D. Bigo et al., Foreigners, Refugees or Minorities? Rethinking People in the Context of Border Controls and Visas (Farnham: Ashgate, 2013).
  2. T. Gammeltoft-Hansen, ‘The Externalisation of European Migration Control and the Reach of International Refugee Law’, in E. Guild & P. Minderhoud, The First Decade of EU Migration and Asylum Law (Leiden, Martinus Nijhoff, 2011).
  3. R. Cholewinski, ‘No Right of Entry: The Legal Regime on Crossing the EU Border’, in K. Groenendijk, E. Guild, and P. Minderhoud (eds), In Search of Europe’s Borders (The Hague: Kluwer, 2003).
  4. E. Guild, ‘Jurisprudence of the ECHR: Lessons for the EU Asylum Policy’, in C. Dias Urbano de Sousa and P. de Bruycker (eds), The Emergence of a European Asylum Policy (Brussels: Bruylant, 2004), pp. 329–342.
  5. E. Haddad, ‘The External Dimension of EU Refugee Policy: a New Approach to Asylum?’, Government and Opposition, vol. 43, no. 2 (2008), pp. 190–205.
  6. S. Klepp, ‘A Contested Asylum System: The European Union between Refugee Protection and Border Control in the Mediterranean Sea’, European Journal of Migration and Law, vol. 12 (2010), pp. 1–21.
  7. V. Mitsilegas, J. Monar & W. Rees, The EU and Internal Security (Basingstoke: Palgrave/ Macmillan 2003), pp. 109–111.
  8. S. Peers, ‘Key Legislative Developments on Migration in the European Union: SIS II’, European Journal of Migration and Law, vol. 10 (2008), pp. 77–104.
  9. S. Horii, ‘It is about more than just Training: The Effect of Frontex Border Guard Training’, Refugee Survey Quarterly, vol. 31, no. 4 (2012), pp. 158-177.

Editor’s Note

See also the case Gebremedhin v. France in Section VI.1.2, and the Prague Airport case in Section VI.2.3.2.

 VI.2.3.1 The EU’s External and Internal BordersVI.2.3.1 The EU’s External and Internal Borders

EU DocumentsEU Documents

#NameSize
1Report on the Evaluation and Future Development of the FRONTEX Agency, COM (2008) 67.Report on the Evaluation and Future Development of the FRONTEX Agency, COM (2008) 67.Empty
2Regulation (EC) No 863/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 July 2007.Regulation (EC) No 863/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 July 2007.Empty
3Regulation (EC) No 562/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006 establishing a Community Code on the rules governing the movement of persons across borders (Schengen Borders Code).Regulation (EC) No 562/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006 establishing a Community Code on the rules governing the movement of persons across borders (Schengen Borders Code).Empty
4Council Resolution of 26 June 1997 on Unaccompanied Minors who are Nationals of third Countries, OJ C 221, 19 July 1997.Council Resolution of 26 June 1997 on Unaccompanied Minors who are Nationals of third Countries, OJ C 221, 19 July 1997.Empty
5Council Regulation (EC) No 2007/2004 of 26 October 2004 establishing a European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union, OJ L 349/1, 25 November 2004. Council Regulation (EC) No 2007/2004 of 26 October 2004 establishing a European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union, OJ L 349/1, 25 November 2004. Empty