EUNAVFOR MED: FIGHTING MIGRANT SMUGGLING UNDER UN SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION 2240 (2015)

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-54
Author(s):  
Marco Gestri

To face the extraordinary migration crisis and consequent human tragedy in the Mediterranean, the need has emerged to fight human smugglers and traffickers. The European Union (EU) has launched EUNAVFOR MED, a naval crisis management operation aiming to disrupt the business model of human smuggling in the Central Mediterranean. With Resolution 2240 of 9 October 2015, the UN Security Council, acting under Chapter VII of the Charter, authorised the EU operation to undertake “all measures commensurate to the circumstances” in order to visit, seize, and dispose of vessels used by smugglers. The EU operation is currently limited to the high seas, yet its expansion into Libyan waters and territory is envisaged. This article discusses some issues arising from Resolution 2240 and its implementation by the EU, notably from the viewpoint of the international law of the sea, the rules governing the use of force and human rights law. Problems have also emerged as to the prosecution in Italy of the smugglers apprehended on the high seas. It is submitted that a number of issues have not been clarified by the legal texts adopted and that the action of the EU in this field is still ineffective and rather opaque.

Author(s):  
Tzanakopoulos Antonios

This casenote reviews and discusses the series of decisions regarding sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council against Yassin Abdullah Kadi, as implemented in the EU legal order. In this series of cases, the EU Courts at different times take different positions regarding the relationship of the UN and the EU legal order, as well as their power to review EU acts implementing Security Council sanctions and (indirectly) the sanctions themselves. The series of cases marks a watershed moment in UN Security Council targeted sanctions, forcing EU member states to disobey them and eventually leading to the creation and strengthening of an internal UN review mechanism, the Office of the Ombudsperson.


Author(s):  
Tzanakopoulos Antonios

There are two principle sources of sanctions regimes applicable to the UK, this chapter shows: those of the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN). The chapter first looks at the EU regime. The EU operates thirty-eight different sanctions regimes as of May 2016. They are of two types: regimes designed to implement UN-mandated sanctions regimes; and the EU’s autonomous sanctions regimes. Current EU policy on sanctions has been continuously updated. As the EU Basic Principles make clear, the EU looks principally to the UN Security Council as the source of sanctions. The UK sanctions regimes, which give effect to UN sanctions regimes, are principally introduced for three purposes: to legislate in the absence of EU competence (for example to introduce financial sanctions against so-called ‘domestic’ terrorists); to give effect to EU regimes (for example to impose penalties for failure to comply with obligations introduced by means of an EU Regulation); and to introduce measures ahead of an EU regime (where by acting unilaterally, the UK can act more speedily) or even independently.


Politeja ◽  
1970 ◽  
Vol 14 (5 (50)) ◽  
Author(s):  
Artur Gruszczak

EUROPEAN BORDERS IN TURBULENT TIMES: THE CASE OF THE CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN ‘EXTENDED BORDERLAND’ This article presents one of the most salient aspects of the migration crisis in the EU, namely the turbulent management of external borders, and analyzing it in the case of the central region of the Mediterranean Sea. The study is focused on risks and threats to the security of the European Union and its member states, particularly Italy, posed by negative aspects of migratory flows and accompanying phenomena such as migrant smuggling, trafficking in human beings, drug smuggling or document frauds. For this purpose, a concept of ‘extended borderland’ is applied as particularly suitable for analyzing border-security policies and actions undertaken by the European Union. The argument developed in this article is that the Central Mediterranean area has been converted into an extended borderland where conventional systems, methods and tools of border management are superseded by spatial taming created by international actors acting through joint maritime operations.


Author(s):  
Tzanakopoulos Antonios

This chapter examines the European Union (EU) from the perspective of public international law. Financial crime, this chapter argues, is an international phenomenon that requires international solutions. This recognition has resulted in states cooperating on a number of different levels in order to streamline their responses to international financial crime. This chapter deals with the EU in two guises: as an independent source of international obligation for its member states, imposing discreet international obligations on them, which may even function so as to turn non-binding recommendations of international bodies into hard law, and as a peculiar entity interposing itself between international obligations from other sources (such as international treaties or UN Security Council binding resolutions) and domestic implementation of these obligations. The fact that some EU law has a more remote international source (such as a UN Security Council Resolution) may affect the degree and nature of the judicial scrutiny to which this body of law may be subject. The chapter looks first at sanctions and next at money laundering, both from the perspective of the EU.


Politeja ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3(66)) ◽  
pp. 157-169
Author(s):  
Wawrzyniec Banach

European Union towards Western Balkans in the Context of Migration Crisis 2015‑2019 The aim of the article is to analyse the actions taken by the European Union towards the Western Balkans in the context of the migration crisis. The study assumes that the migration crisis was an important factor accelerating the accession process of the Western Balkan countries to the European Union. In order to fulfil the research goal, an analysis of sources (European Union documents) was conducted. The paper uses elements of the theory of the regional security complex as a theoretical framework. Firstly, the activities of the European Union before the migration crisis are discussed. Next, the paper focuses on presenting the course of the crisis on the Western Balkan route. The further part of the study discusses the actions taken by the EU towards the countries of the Western Balkans in response to the migration crisis.


2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edith Drieskens

AbstractZooming in on the serving European Union (EU) Member States and exploring the legal parameters defining regional actorness both directly and indirectly, this article analyzes the EU's representation at the United Nations (UN) Security Council. Looking at the theory and practice behind Articles 52, 23 and 103 of the UN Charter, we shed fresh light on the only provision in the European Treaties that explicitly referred to the UN Security Council, i.e. the former Article 19 of the EU Treaty. We define that provision as a regional interpretation of Article 103 of the UN Charter and discuss its implementation in day-to-day decision-making, especially as for economic and financial sanctions measures. Hereby, we focus on the negotiations leading to UN Security Council Resolution 1822(2008).


2017 ◽  
Vol 111 (4) ◽  
pp. 1056-1062

In July 2015, Iran, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Germany, and the European Union adopted the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Pursuant to that agreement, Iran committed to limiting the scope and content of its nuclear program in exchange for relief from various nuclear-related sanctions imposed by the other signatories. By law, the U.S. State Department is required to certify Iran's compliance with the agreement every ninety days. The Trump administration first certified Iran's compliance with the agreement in April 2017, albeit reluctantly. In its first certification, the Trump administration expressed ongoing concern about Iran's sponsorship of terrorism, and repeated previous criticism of the JCPOA as “fail[ing] to achieve the objective of a non-nuclear Iran.”


2021 ◽  
Vol XV - Wydanie specjalne ◽  
pp. 223-238
Author(s):  
Anna Piotrowska ◽  
Marian Kopczewski ◽  
Julia Nowicka ◽  
Zbigniew Ciekanowski

Contemporary and future threats to Europe in the 21st century constitute an important element of the European Union's security policy. Ongoing wars, terrorism, religious fanaticism and extreme poverty in third world countries led to a drastic wave of refugees that flooded Europe. The article presents the problem of threats related to the increasing migration, as well as the activities of the European Union aimed at preventing the migration crisis. The issue of Syrian refugees fleeing in desperation to Europe, a Europe that does not necessarily welcome them with open arms, was raised. The aim of the presented study is to analyze the situation of contemporary Europe in the context of threats related to the phenomenon of migration. Statistical data published by the most important institutions of the EU Member States, including data related to crimes committed by citizens who are not indigenous people of Europe, were thoroughly analyzed. Eurostat research, data disseminated by the Federal Criminal Police Office in Germany or statistics published by the Italian Istat were used. The conclusions from the above research allowed to verify the hypothesis that the migration crisis is a factor in the multifaceted destabilization of contemporary Europe, and the phenomenon of migration should be considered in this context. Due to the limited volume of the article, the author of the publication presented the most important legal bases regulating legal and illegal immigration, which will facilitate the understanding of the European Union's operation on the issue of interest to us.


2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Dura

Abstract The implications of the comprehensive approach to the EU refugee crisis are becoming apparent in the current actions of different players in the central Mediterranean, where a Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) military operation is present alongside Frontex’s joint operation Triton. Both cooperate closely with Libyan border authorities and the European Migrant Smuggling Centre of Europol. But this not only poses humanitarian problems as to how the EU should cooperate on these matters with Libyan officials, it also leads to a confusing meddling of different EU actors from distinct policy areas in matters of crucial importance to the Union. Against this background, the article delineates the competences and powers of the different actors. Another issue is the role of the European Parliament in the situation: it has little influence in the CSDP but strong links to the agencies. In this context the article will discuss the influence of the cooperation on parliamentary accountability.


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