Access to Asylum
International Refugee Law and the Globalisation of Migration Control

A systematic analysis of extraterritorial obligations and state responsibility for private actors under international refugee law.

Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen (Author)

9781107003477, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 March 2011

310 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.59 kg

'This work will be of interest to scholars of refugee law, human rights law, and general international law as it is a comprehensive and well-written guide to the legal norms applicable to the phenomena of offshoring and outsourcing of migration control. The real value of this volume, however, lies in the author's awareness of the factual realities of private and extraterritorial migration control. Throughout the book, the author sets the scene, explaining the rationale behind the employment of such policies, how they operate in reality and the practical effect that this has on the individual asylum seeker.' Leiden Journal of International Law

Is there still a right to seek asylum in a globalised world? Migration control has increasingly moved to the high seas or the territory of transit and origin countries, and is now commonly outsourced to private actors. Under threat of financial penalties airlines today reject any passenger not in possession of a valid visa, and private contractors are used to run detention centres and man border crossings. In this volume Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen examines the impact of these new practices for refugees' access to asylum. A systematic analysis is provided of the reach and limits of international refugee law when migration control is carried out extraterritorially or by non-state actors. State practice from around the globe and case law from all the major human rights institutions is discussed. The arguments are further linked to wider debates in human rights, general international law and political science.

1. Introduction
2. The refugee and the globalisation of migration control
3. Refugee protection and the reach of the non-refoulement principle
4. Offshore migration control and extraterritorial jurisdiction
5. The privatisation of migration control and state responsibility
6. The institutional reach of refugee protection
7. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Asylum law [LNDA3], Public international law [LBB], Criminology: legal aspects [LAR], Human rights [JPVH], International relations [JPS], Comparative politics [JPB], Refugees & political asylum [JFFD]