Bonavero Series Report Launch Event: Non-Refoulement and Exceptional Circumstances

On 5th February, the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights hosted a launch event for the latest Bonavero Report, titled "The Absolute Prohibition of Refoulement and Exceptional Circumstances", organised jointly with the Chair of Public Law and Human Rights at the University of Münster. 

Our panel was Chaired by Marlene Stiller (Münster), and it was joined by Professor James C. Hathaway (Michigan),  Professor Nora Markard (Münster), Dr Joyce De Coninck (EUI/Ghent), and Professor Başak Çalı (Oxford). All members of our panel were also contributors to the report, which reproduces the Third Party Intervention (TPI) submitted to the European Court of Human Rights in the case of  C.O.C.G. and Others v Lithuania, currently pending before its Grand Chamber. The hearing in the case are scheduled for 12 February and will be available online on the Court's website. 

The Report analyses whether any of the regime of exceptions provided under the European Convention on Human Rights, the 1951 Refugee Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, EU Law and the International Law of State Responsibility could justify pushbacks of asylum seekers as a  response to 'hybrid attacks', i.e. third states pushing migrants and asylum seekers into the borders of the European Union. The Report and our panel discussion alike reflected on the fundamental nature of the principle of non-refoulement and why none of the rules that provide exceptions under various regimes justify derogations from the prohibition of non-refoulement. 

Follow this link to read our latest report. You can see our previous reports here.

You can watch the recording our launch event here: