Resisting the European Border Regime. The Role of Strategic Human Rights Litigation

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The proposed project aims at analysing the potentials, functions and limits of strategic human rights litigation for the reassertion of refugee rights in the Mediterranean border zone. More specifically, I will analyse legal court cases brought against Italy and the EU in national and international fora regarding the deaths and push-backs of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea. To do so, I will conduct ethnographic fieldwork in strategic human rights organisations, conduct interviews and review and build on the available academic literature. My research questions are:(1) What role does strategic litigation play in the Mediterranean border landscape? How does it reconfigure the borders of Europe?(2) What is the strategic significance of litigation in the Mediterranean border zone? In how far does strategic litigation allow refugees and migrants to effectively access their rights?(3) How does strategic litigation intervene amongst the variety of tactics and strategies used to challenge the situation of rightlessness that refugees and migrants are faced with? What does the resort to legal means tell us about the ways in which the current border regime can be contested? I am already in contact with key academics and practitioners working on strategic litigation and will continue to foster our partnership to answer my research questions. Accordingly, my research project is congruent with ESRC's aim of working innovatively across disciplinary, institutional and professional boundaries. The project is also relevant to ESRC remit because it promises to have a strong academic and societal impact, for example on the policies of countries of destination of migrants and refugees. It is aimed at assessing the effectiveness of litigation, which is one of the many tools to seek democratic accountability and thereby affects our perception of the rule of law and the possibility of achieving justice.