Law, Dignity & Socio- Economic Rights: The Case of Asylum Seekers in Europe Dr Liam Thornton, UCD Human Rights Network UCD School of Law
• “[t]he treatment of aliens…has become a defining challenge to an important aspect of the moral identity of the emerging European polity and the process of European integration.” – J.H.H. Weiler (1992)
Introduction UCD School of Law
Paper Structure (20 minutes) 1. Defining ‘asylum seekers’, socio -economic rights & rejecting language of ‘reception’ (3 minutes) 2. The plurality of socio-economic rights for asylum seekers: Comparative legal perspectives (12 minutes) 3. The Need for Clarity on Dignity (4 minutes)
Definition & Scope UCD School of Law
• Definitions • Asylum seeker • Why socio-economic rights and not reception conditions? • My core argument: – End result of this legal plurality, has been to deny asylum seekers access to mainstream social supports
Legal Plurality & Socio- Economic Rights of Asylum Seekers UCD School of Law
• International Human Rights Law • Council of Europe Human Rights Law • European Union Human Rights Law
What does this tell us? Grand pronouncements of ‘universality’ & ‘indivisibility’ of rights; of rights inhering in ‘all’, ‘everybody’ and ‘everyone’ ; mask the reality that states may legitimately differentiate in the protection of rights between citizens and residents on the one hand and asylum seekers on the other.
The Socio-Economic Rights of Asylum Seekers: From Legal Plurality to Clarity to Dignity? UCD School of Law
• Presupposition of rights protection • What is the solution? Is there any? • Speaking notes and full paper available online through www.humanrights.ie
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