The sheep that god lost: ‘legally’ circumventing the human rights of undocumented migrants

Abstract

The world witnessed the forceful repulsion of undocumented migrants when the Turkish government unilaterally repealed the EU-Turkey Deal in the Spring of 2020 and opened its border to allow migrants to reach the Greek border. In general, the rights of undocumented migrants are widely abused, particularly during migrants’ journeys towards asylum applications and pending status. This article examines in-depth how states violate the rights of undocumented migrants, despite existing international and European human rights protection regimes. I argue that states engage in political malignancy by creating an accountability (compliance) gap for abusing the grey areas of international law, where they consciously perform policies that harm undocumented migrants. Moreover, I also argue that states cooperate in those grey areas to overcome their human rights obligations and to fend off the migrant flows.