*** LISA HESCHL: Protecting the Rights of Refugees Beyond European Borders. Establishing Extraterritorial Legal Responsibilities. Intersentia Ltd (Sheraton House, Castle Park, Cambridge, CB3 0AX, UK. Tel: (44-1223) 370170 – fax: 370169 – Email: mail@intersentia.co.uk – Internet: http://www.intersentia.com ). 2018, 255 pp. €79. ISBN 978-1-78068-614-1.
Lisa Heschl is a researcher and lecturer at the European Training and Research Centre for Human Rights and Democracy at the University of Graz and is anything but the flavour of the month with those leading Austria right now or all those supporting the latter in their quest to build a “new” Europe. Based on the observation that the migration and asylum crisis that reached its peak in 2015 turned out to be a “stress test” for the European project insofar as it demonstrated “the fragility in the cohesion and solidarity” between the member states, the conviction of this scientist’s doctoral thesis is that the increasingly blatant trend towards extra-territorialisation in so-called third countries of origin or transit, immigration control measures (therefore far away from the national borders) is highly dangerous to asylum seekers and the rule of law in Europe.
This publication both robustly and with precision demonstrates the extent to which it is the duty of the member states to protect the rights of refugees and those requiring international protection and how this can be whittled away when controls are carried out far away from the national territory of the country carrying out the controls. The author points out that the rights conferred on refugees by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or Geneva Convention are clearly undermined when the question of controls within the European Union are operated in a third country, “By acting extraterritorially, sovereignty is disaggregated, meaning that state executive acts may not be subject to national judicial control, since they take place outside the domestic legal orders”.
Those are now managing migration and asylum policy in a lot of member states may be offended by the scathing observation, “The further away violations of rights occur from a state territory, the less likely it is that oversight is provided and that an individual has effective access to protection”.
Bu this is a situation that Lisa Heschl is not accepting likely. In an effort to make good this shortfall in which the values (still) proclaimed by the European Union are being undermined, she seeks to identify the competences of all the actors involved in this realm of extra-territorial action, the judicial order is applicable and the framework that is supposed to ensure the framework for allocating responsibility when upholding the rights of persons in need of international protection. On the same level as national state services, Frontex is also severely criticised in this publication and their responsibilities examined in light of the obligations incumbent on them in the context of human rights and European law, as well as the rules applying to the law at sea.
Are relevant protection norms applicable within the EU territory extend beyond territorial borders and bind different actors even if engaging extraterritorially in immigration control measures? Given the increasing commitment in this kind of control carried out by the member states and specialist agencies such as Frontex, how can responsibilities and accountability for them be ensured? These are the fundamental questions underpinning this book. Lisa Heschl’s premise is based on the conviction that the member states are duty-bound to recognise their responsibilities for their action committed outside their respective territories. During the five chapters of this book, she consistently defends the idea that the traditional notions of state sovereignty (national, jurisdictional and legislative exclusivity) are obsolete because, “expanding the duty of responsibility and a broad interpretation of the existing tools unnecessary to protect the rights of people requiring comprehensive assistance”. This is a convincing appeal but it will obviously not be appreciated by everybody…
Pierre Bouvier
*** HANNAH RUSSELL: The Use of Force and Article 2 of the ECHR in Light of European Conflicts. Hart Publishing (Kemp House, Chawley Park, Cumnor Hill, Oxford, OX2 9PH, UK. Tel: (44-1865) 598648 – fax: 727017 – Email: mail@hartpub.co.uk – Internet: http://www.hartpub.co.uk ). 2017, 304 pp. £75. ISBN 978-1-5099-1181-3.
Article 2 of the European Convention of Human Rights in its current form is incomplete and obsolete due to the significant developments that have taken place at legislative and judicial levels. The right to life exceeds what has been listed in article 2! The author is convinced that article 2 remains, however, relevant and this book examines the way in which the right to life could be better protected in Europe. Hannah Russell is a specialist in human rights and is currently working in the policy field and research at the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission. She calls for the modernisation of article 2 by codifying appropriate legislative and judicial developments for this provision in the form of guidelines. She also examines possible improvements that could be made by the Council of Europe bodies, European Court of Human Rights, its Committee of Ministers, Parliamentary Assembly and the Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe, in an effort to encourage adherence to article 2 and promote effective resources for preventing future violations. The author also draws on the experience of four internal European conflicts: the Basque and Chechen conflicts, troubles in Northern Ireland and the Turkish-Kurdish conflict, to illustrate and to back up her recommendations and analyses. (AKa)
*** BENEDITA MENEZES QUEIROZ: Illegally Staying in the EU. An Analysis of Illegality in EU Migration Law. Hart Publishing (Kemp House, Chawley Park, Cumnor Hill, Oxford, OX2 9PH, UK. Tel: (44-1865) 598648 – fax: 727017 – email: mail@hartpub.co.uk – Internet: http://www.hartpub.co.uk ). 2018, 207 pp. £ 58.50. ISBN 978-1-50991-287-2.
Benedita Menenzes Queiroz is both an assistant lecturer at the European University Institute School of Transnational Governance in Florence and leading researcher at the Centre for Public Law Research in Lisbon. In this book she provides a conceptual analysis of the illegal residency of a national from a third country by examining the limitations to the overall concept of illegality at the European Union level. In the first part of this analysis, she points out that the holistic conceptualisation of illegality, based on a combination of sources (European and national legislation) is insufficient. She then explores the situations produced by the traditional legal framework and illegality under European law. Cases involving Union citizens residing illegally and nationals from third countries in illegal residency are also examined as atypical examples. She subsequently reveals the fragmentation of judicial statutes under European migration law as well as the fact that the more general categorisation of migrants is also largely inappropriate and unsatisfactory. The possible link between illegality and criminality resulting from the way in which Union databases pertaining to the judicial system of the illegal residency of a migrant is the first negative trend identified by the author. After having also taken into consideration the functions regarding access to legality (both instrumental and corrective) she identifies another obvious trend: the regime of illegality exclusive to the Union is a two-stroke system that discriminates on the basis of wealth and interprets access to legality by the member states as a means to serve their own objectives. Benedita Menenzes Queiroz ultimately proposes a corrective justification of the regulation and puts forward a number of suggestions for rectifying the current shortcomings. It should be pointed out that the book has the additional benefit of containing an enormous bibliography (no fewer than 14 pages of references to books, articles, chapters and official documents) and a useful and substantial index. (AKa)
*** MARIKA ROMBOU-LEVIDI: Ici Kaput: la violence de la frontière. L’immigration, la nationalité et le sexe à la frontière entre la Grèce et l'Albanie. Editions Alexandria (133 rue Solonos, GR-10677. Tel: (30-210) 3806305 – fax: 3838173 – email: alexpubl@alexandria-publ.gr. Internet: http://www.alexandria-publ.gr ). 2018, 184 pp €15.90. ISBN 978-960-221-763-4.
The recently displaced populations of Asia and Africa are having to confront strong resistance in Europe that reminds us every day that we are experiencing a kind of border “fetishism”. Despite continual anthropological evolution, borders continue to create questions regarding demarcation coherency issues at symbolic and ontological levels. This study by a professor of social anthropology at the University of Sussex sheds light on the concept of the border. The question is not tackled by way of any relative value of “timely” locus but rather, in the perspective of “longevity”. Marika Rombou-Levidi then explores the issue of Albanian migration and “mixed marriages” between Greek men and Albanian immigrant women that have taken place at the Greek-Albanian border in the post-1990 period. By way of a number of incisive life histories, she explores the slow and subtle transformations that have been observed, as well as the contradictions that have provoked some examples of extreme violence. In other circumstances, they could have been considered as versions of a domestic family phenomena. In this connection, the author “re-examines” the violence in the context of immigration, nationality and gender, within the confines of a space directly linked to the border itself. This book provides an interesting insight into the trajectory of a broader society and, consequently, of “border violence”, which is the specific remit of the work at hand. (AKa)
*** ELENA ALINA ONTANU: Cross-Border Debt Recovery in the EU. A Comparative and Empirical Study on the Use of the European Uniform Procedures. Editions Intersentia Ltd (Sheraton House, Castle Park, Cambridge, CB3 0AX, UK. Tel: (44-1223) 370170 – fax: 370169 – Email: mail@intersentia.co.uk – Internet: http://www.intersentia.com ). 2017, 552 pp, £ 125. ISBN 978-1-78068-609-7.
What are the results produced by applying the first autonomous European civilian procedures such as the European Payment Order and the European small dispute settlement procedure? Answers to these questions are provided in this book by Elena Elina Ontanu, an assistant lecturer in international private law and a researcher at the Judicial Systems Research Institute at the National Council of Research in Italy. She provides a far-reaching comparative and empirical analysis of the way in which these instruments function and interact with the national procedures in England and Wales, France, Italy and Romania. The analysis combines available statistics and appropriate European and national case law, as well as drawing from the direct experience of practitioners in this area. This approach helps us gain an understanding of the difficulties encountered and the possible solutions for overcoming the procedural complexities, as well as guaranteeing the procedural rights of the relevant parties. The conclusions constitute a solid basis for enhancing legal cooperation and tackling the practical aspects relating to the application of procedures. In this publication the author particularly discusses the ongoing developments in this domain and looks at the future implications regarding legal standards established by uniform European procedures. It is quite obvious that this book will provide a precious tool to all to all those involved in and/or interested in European civil procedure. (AKa)
*** IRINIKOS PLATIS : Données personnelles. Protection GDPR de l'UE. Editions Papadopoulos (9 Kapodistriou, Metamorphosi, GR-14452 Athens. Tel: (30-210) 2846074-5 – fax: 2817127 – Email info@epbooks.gr – Internet : http://www.epbooks.gr ). 2018, 112 p., 10,99 €. ISBN 978-960-569-873-7.
Every company, large or small, involved in processing the personal data of people in the European Union are now obliged to fully comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This is the most significant legislative change regarding data protection over the past 20 years. The GDPR seeks to extend data protection to the age of “big data” and “cloud computing”. The Commission has provided assurances that this is a basic fundamental right and that harsh fines will apply to anybody who attempts to undermine the confidentiality principles. This book is written by a team of specialists at the E&Y Law network under the supervision of a legal advisor at the Greek-Romanian Chamber of Commerce. This study provides a clear presentation of all the basic information that each member has to be aware of in order to avoid any problems, irrespective of their size or whether they are a company owner or subcontractor. (AKa)