Tag: fundamental rights

When the Presumption of Compliance Results in Outsourcing of Responsibility: Protecting the Fundamental Rights of Europe’s Asylum Seekers

Amy Dunne, LLB (Trinity College Dublin), Master of Law, KU Leuven (cum laude), PhD candidate Leiden Universiteit and Knowledge Management, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, Brussels 

This submission discusses the limits of the presumption of compliance as encapsulated by the sovereignty clause, Article 3(2), of Regulation (EC) No 604/2013 (Dublin III Regulation) through analysing the evolutions set out in the ECtHR case Tarakhel v Switzerland. It is argued herein that the presumption of compliance has diminished the collective responsibility of Member States for Europe’s asylum seekers – with northern States relying on the presumption to outsource their collective responsibility to southern States, without due regard for fundamental rights concerns, in a manner contrary to the spirit of the Dublin Regulation. Continue reading “When the Presumption of Compliance Results in Outsourcing of Responsibility: Protecting the Fundamental Rights of Europe’s Asylum Seekers”

FEATURED: BIICL Annual Grotius Lecture 2015, 26 March 2015

Thursday 26 March 2015
The Law Society, 113 Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1PL

Annual Grotius Lecture
17:30-18:30 (followed by drinks reception)

Eleanor Sharpston QC will deliver the 2015 Annual Grotius Lecture on the subject

‘Squaring the Circle? Fighting Terrorism whilst Respecting Fundamental Rights’

Eleanor Sharpston QC has been Advocate General at the Court of Justice since 2006. After serving as a référendaire (judicial assistant) to Advocate General, subsequently Judge, Sir Gordon Slynn, she taught and researched what was then EC law, together with comparative law, at University College London and then at King’s College Cambridge. In parallel, she pursued a career at the Bar specialising in EC law and the ECHR, becoming a Queen’s Counsel in 1999. She has published widely on European Union law and comparative law.

She brings her extensive experience as an academic, practitioner and now Advocate General to this prestigious Annual Lecture of BIICL.

The Lecture will be of great interest to barristers, solicitors, judges, arbitrators, government officials, intergovernmental officials, academics, students and all with an interest in European law.

For further information and to book online, please visit www.biicl.org/event/1082

Sponsored by Shell and Carter-Ruck

Join in the conversation for this event @BIICL #Grotius2015

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Would the UK be forced to exit the EU if it exits the ECHR?

Mr Émile T. McHarsky-Todoroff LL.B (Surrey) LL.M Candidate (LSE), Associate Tutor in EU Law (University of Surrey) and Legal Consultant (Spectrum Legal Consulting).

There has been a considerable degree of noise around both the concept of “Brexit” (a potential UK exit from the EU) and the possibility of the UK withdrawing from the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) in some fashion. Leaving political arguments to one side, this blog post is interested in whether these two hypotheticals may interconnect; specifically, whether a UK exit from the ECHR would entail that the UK has to also leave the EU. This immediately begs the question of what one means by “has to”. If this is taken to mean a legal requirement that the UK leaves the EU should it choose to withdraw from the ECHR, then the answer is a flat “no”.  While the Lisbon Treaty introduced the machinery for a Member State to leave the Union (now Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU)),[1] there is no “foot to backside” rule in the EU; in other words there is no Treaty provision which specifically allows for a Member State to be ejected from the EU.[2] Therefore, this post will aim to explore the different legal tools which could be used to push the UK out of the EU door. Continue reading “Would the UK be forced to exit the EU if it exits the ECHR?”

Impediments Under European Law To The Prevention And Prosecution Of Foreign Fighter Crimes

Fahrid Chishty
Second year undergraduate student and Dickson Poon Scholar of the LLB in Politics, Philosophy & Law (PPL) at King’s College, London

The European legal order is beset by an unprecedented challenge today. Domestic nationals, prevailingly of Western European origin, are engaged at the centre of ideological conflicts in Iraq and Syria in increasing numbers. Against the backdrop of sectarian conflict and the proliferation of terrorist networks, European ‘foreign fighters’ pose a significant threat, upon return, to the security and prosperity of their Member States (MS) of origin. National governments have enacted legislation in recent months in order to stem the tide of European fighters leaving and re-entering Union or State territory, accentuating the need for a collaborative and synergetic regional strategy. This article assesses the impediments, actual and potential, to the prevention and prosecution of foreign fighter criminality in the Middle East region (ME) under European Union law. It identifies potential lacunae in the law, concluding with the case for EU-wide legislation facilitating the arraignment of foreign fighters consistently across MS, as proposed by Gilles De Kerchove, Brussels’ Counter-Terrorism Coordinator (CTC), at the Commission in December 2014.[1]

Continue reading “Impediments Under European Law To The Prevention And Prosecution Of Foreign Fighter Crimes”

Opinion 2/13 of the Court of Justice of the European Union

Amanda Spalding, PhD Candidate, King’s College London, The Dickson Poon School of Law – Teaching Fellow, SOAS, School of Law

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has finally given its opinion as to the validity of the draft agreement on the accession of the European Union to the European Convention of Human Rights. Unfortunately, it found that the draft agreement is not compatible with EU law. This is a significant set-back to an already complex and drawn-out process of accession.

Continue reading “Opinion 2/13 of the Court of Justice of the European Union”