Event #4 of the Columbia Human Rights Law Review’s 50th Anniversary Symposium Series
Article: Defining Detention
Author: Anita Sinha, Assistant Professor of Law and the Director of the International Human Rights Law Clinic, American University of Washington College of Law
European states have resorted to “carceral migration control” in response to a migration “crisis,” implementing shortsighted migration policies, entrenching caricatures of migrants as threatening, and emphasizing punitive rather than humanitarian responses. The European Court of Human Rights has since intervened in the prolonged detention of migrants throughout Europe, often using its power to advance the rights of migrants.
In this talk, Professor Sinha will interrogate the foundational principles of the European human rights system with respect to migrants. She will then review the Court’s recent decisions regarding the prolonged detention of involuntary migrants illustrate the potential of the European system to extend human rights protections to migrants. More specifically, she will discuss how the European Court of Human Rights has held steadfast to the principle that migration detention is possibly unlawful detention, and that the European Convention on Human Rights prohibits such deprivation of liberty.
HRLR’s 50th Anniversary Symposium Keynote is co-sponsored by Student Affairs and the Clerkship Office.
The Author Series is co-sponsored by CSIL, Rightslink, SIRR, and LaLSA.
