THE DIRECT AND INDIRECT (PAR RICOCHET) PROTECTION OF MIGRANTS IN THE LIGHT OF THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS: BRIEF NOTES ON THE EVOLUTION OF THE STRASBOURG COURT’S CASE-LAW

Abstract

In this paper, the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights on protection of migrants by the European Convention on Human Rights will be analyzed and discussed, in order to outline the main principles of decisions on cases concerning family reunion, expulsion, exclusion, detention and extradition of foreigners. In this realm, account shall be taken that there are very few provisions specially aimed at protecting human rights of migrants in the Rome Convention. The recognition of migrants’ human rights has been mainly granted by an indirect or par ricochet way, through the protection other human rights. When assessing the control of migration flows by Member States, the European Court has been placing, in a praetorian or evolutive way, migrants under the conventional protection through the guarantee of expressly protected conventional rights, such as the right to family or private life or the prohibition of torture