Ryszard Cholewinski

The Need for Effective Individual Legal Protection in Immigration Matters

* Centre for European Law and Integration, Faculty of Law, University of Leicester, United Kingdom. Certain parts of this article are based on an article, “The Need for Effective Remedies in Matters of Immigration and Border Control” (2005) 19 Migrantenrecht 259–262, and on a paper on “Border Control and Discrimination”, presented to the European Parliament Public Seminar on ‘Borders’, Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, European Parliament, Brussels, 30 March 2005. 1 E.g. Article 12(4) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) 1966 (999 UNTS 171) (“No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country”). The Human Rights Committee interprets Article 12(4) ICCPR to encompass long-term resident foreigners, including stateless persons. See General Comment No. 27; Freedom of Movement (Art. 12), UN Doc. CCPR/C/21/ Rev.1/Add.9 (2 November 1999), para. 20. Article 3(2) of Protocol No. 4 to the ECHR (16 September 1963; ETS No. 46) limits the “right to enter” to nationals (“No one shall be deprived of the right to enter the territory of the state of which he is a national”). 2 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees 1951 (UNTS No. 2545, Vol. 189, p. 137) and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees 1967 (606 UNTS No. 8791, p. 267). 3 E.g. OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa 1969 (UNTS No. 14, 691). 4 Geneva Convention, above n. 2, Article 33(1); African Convention, above n. 3, Article II(3). 5 See E. Lauterpacht and D. Bethlehem, “The Scope and Content of the Principle of Non-refoulement”, in E. Feller, V. Türk and F. Nicholson, (eds), Refugee Protection in International Law: UNHCR’s Global Consultations on International Protection (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003) pp. 87–181. The Need for Effective Individual Legal Protection in Immigration Matters