Research Papers

In the EU, border controls assume a variety of functions. They are meant to assist in the fight against terrorism and cross-border crime, in the maintenance of internal security and public order, and in the administration of migratory flows. The (re-)definition of border surveillance as a means to control access to territory and combat irregular movement is not new. When the communautarization of the Schengen acquis was being negotiated, the Austrian Presidency submitted a Strategic Paper on Immigration and Asylum Policy, putting forward a model of concentric circles based on an ‘overall concept of control of legal entry, at all stages of the movement of persons’. Although the paper was never officially adopted, the Tampere Conclusions called for a ‘more efficient management of migration flows at all their stages’; an idea that the Treaty of Lisbon has codified in the notion of ‘integrated border management’ (IBM) and the Stockholm Programme seeks to realize. At the same time, the Commission has always recognised that ‘there are a plethora of reasons for individuals’ attempts to enter the EU’. The flows towards the Union are indeed mixed and refugees are among those trying to reach European shores. As the JHA Council has recently acknowledged, border controls must thus ‘fully respect human rights, the protection of persons in need of international protection and the principle of non-refoulement’. The object of this paper is hence to identify the precise effects of IBM measures on the fundamental rights of migrants to determine whether they are implemented in accordance with EU law and relevant international standards.