The consequences of the refugee crisis have been dramatic for the European Union, which now sees itself drifting apart. Europe has long been the destination of mixed migration flows since the early 2000s. In 2015, the inflow of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees had reached its peak coming from the Mediterranean Sea (Raineri and Strazzari, 2021:2.). An asylum-seeker boat en route from Libya to Italy shipwrecked off the shore of Lampedusa on 19 April 2015, killing more than 800 people in what the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) called a humanitarian disaster in recent times (Bonomolo and Kirchgaessner, 2015). This tragic event was the trigger that spurred the EU (European Union) to seize cross-Mediterranean migratory flows, despite concerns about cross-Med migrant flows brewing for some time (Raineri and Strazzari, 2021). Initially, Poland and Hungary refused to accept refugees and the same trend is now being followed by other EU countries. Currently, Italy, the country where most migrants or asylum seekers arrive, is behaving the most radically where it is obvious that refugee policies in the country is determined by a right-wing populist interior minister.

Due to the refusal of European ports to accept migrants ashore, migrants are forced to wait on rescue ships for days at a time. The European response to the migrant crisis raises serious concerns especially regarding the protection of human rights under the rule of law (Gatta, 2019:110). With the pressure of migrants, most coast guards’ resort to pushbacks, this process has been deemed non-cosmopolitan and inhumane. Taking a pragmatic and protection-oriented approach, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled on the issue of expulsion, deeming it a violation of Article 3 (ibid.). Several EU members have maintained a long-term commitment to international human rights and refugee law, according to Metcalfe-Hough (2015). In December 2014, member states reaffirmed their commitment to safeguarding and promoting all migrants’ human rights, regardless of their status, by enacting UN Resolution 69/167. Therefore, the inhumane acts reflect Europe’s own society and the decay of its long-standing values.

The question of deservingness and vulnerability should not be used to keep some refugees and deport others. The European border regime should be thoroughly restructured if Human Rights negligence continually exists.

ISHR