In recent years, the European Union embraced the externalisation of refugee and migration management as a security imperative and with the humanitarian aim of saving lives. Many argue that it is rather a strategy of migration containment and control in third countries considered “safe” by EU legislations. The EU decision in 2016 to end irregular migration flows from Turkey to the EU reflects well these practices. Ever since, we witness an erosion of the 1951 Geneva Convention undermining migrants’ and asylum seekers’ rights. How can we protect the rule of law in the light of these violations? What are the costs of these policies in terms of human rights?

Professor Dimitris Christopoulos is a Greek academic and activist. He teaches at the Department of Political Science and History of Panteion University in Athens. Christopoulos was elected from 2016 until 2019, President of the International Federation for Human Rights. Among his numerous books and publications, his last book (Athens, 2020) deals with the refugee situation in Greece.

The mission of the Yves Oltramare Chair “Religion and Politics in the Contemporary World” is to bring a major scientific contribution to the analysis of the impact of the relationships between religion and politics on the evolution of societies and the international system.