Cathryn Costello, Professor of Fundamental Rights at the Hertie School and Co-Director of its Centre for Fundamental Rights, held the keynote speech at the 14th Conference of the Network Migration Law, which took place online on 8 November 2020 under the title 'Law at Borders – at Law’s Borders?'.
Against the background of growing focus of European migration and asylum policy on borders, the conference addressed the question, how law at borders is designed and how it should be designed. Some of the questions that were discussed in this framework were, what significance do borders and border controls have for migration management? What is the significance of current developments for access to international protection? Are open internal borders in Europe lay not only the cornerstone but also the problem of the Common European Asylum System? and would open external borders be the solution of this? Does the rule of law end at the border, or is it not rather at the border where the law is urgently required?
In her talk titled 'Human Rights at the EU’s External Border' Costello reflected on the topic of law at borders and on the question, whether those are also the borders of law. After making more general opening comments about the laws that are applicable to migration control, she elaborated on the multisided nature of the border - i.e. the different sides of border control including not only extraterritorial border control but also within states and communities, and on the different ways that law works at these borders. She concluded her talk with reflection on the principle of the rule of law in migration control.
Watch the full lecture here: