Sylvie Sarolea

From Protection of the Migrant to the Rights of the Migrant Person: Free the Migrant from His Legal Exile…

Neither national law nor international law recognize or guarantee the right to migrate, in itself. However, the migrant is a person and, for this reason, enjoys rights guaranteed and protected by international law and the domestic law of human rights, like the right not to be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment. Case law deduced from these human rights covers general rights for the migrant in particular: family reunification, protection against expulsion. The generic definition of the protected group should or should be permitted to constitute an advantage in that it commits itself to a non-discriminatory protection of migrants. However, case law indicates that the migratory context disadvantages the foreigner when she calls upon the respect of human rights when she migrates.