Program Overview

Asylum and Immigration Program

The legal and jurisprudential sources governing asylum and immigration are very complex and involve a highly specialized and technical set of norms originating from multiple legal sources: international, regional, EU, and domestic. These provisions are further developed by various national and regional courts.

Program Description

While the CJEU and ECtHR have usually engaged in a constructive and coordinated discussion of their respective fundamental rights charters, at times their judicial interpretations have left room for divergent application of the fundamental rights standards at the domestic level. The risk of conflicting interpretations has been avoided with the help of national courts that have engaged in fruitful judicial interactions, forcing the supranational courts to adjust their interpretations.

Key Areas of Focus

• The CEAS and Return Directive touch on a politically sensitive issue, that is the public security of the EU countries, placing national judges in the difficult position of controlling the executive in a field that has traditionally been considered as falling within the prerogative of the executive.
  • National judges have limited power of control in this area.
• The EU Charter is changing this domestic legal tradition, empowering national judges to scrutinize the discretionary power of the executive and at times offering the tool to fill the legislative gaps in the domestic protection of fundamental rights.

Training Materials

• Handbook on the Techniques of Judicial Interactions in the Application of the EU Charter
  • ASYLUM AND IMMIGRATION
  • Available in multiple languages, including Portuguese and Italian.

Online Training Course

Asylum and Immigration Detention: The Protection of Fundamental Rights in the European Union

The course is aimed at providing the audience with knowledge and skills on a very sensitive topic, especially since many migrants moving from third countries to Member States are in vulnerable conditions.