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

拟议的项目旨在分析战略性人权诉讼在恢复地中海边界地区难民权利方面的潜力、作用和局限性。更具体地说，我将分析在国家和国际论坛上针对意大利和欧盟提起的关于地中海移民死亡和遣返的法律案件。为此，我将在战略人权组织中进行人种学田野调查，进行采访，并审查和建立现有的学术文献。我的研究问题是：(1)战略性诉讼在地中海边境格局中扮演什么角色？它如何重新配置欧洲的边界？(2)地中海边境地区诉讼的战略意义是什么？战略诉讼在多大程度上允许难民和移民有效地获得他们的权利？(3)战略诉讼如何介入到用来挑战难民和移民面临的无权利状况的各种战术和战略？诉诸法律手段告诉我们，目前的边境制度可以通过哪些方式受到质疑？我已经与从事战略诉讼工作的主要学者和从业者保持联系，并将继续促进我们的合作伙伴关系，以回答我的研究问题。因此，我的研究项目与ESRC跨越学科、机构和专业边界创新工作的目标是一致的。该项目也与ESRC的职权范围有关，因为它有望产生强大的学术和社会影响，例如对移民和难民目的地国的政策产生影响。它的目的是评估诉讼的效力，诉讼是寻求民主问责的众多工具之一，从而影响我们对法治的看法和实现正义的可能性。

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.